Abstract
In this paper the authors present a current mode approach for the readout of differential capacitive sensors. The main novelty lies in the use of the relatively new second generation voltage conveyor (VCII) active block to process signals in the current domain and then operate an inherent conversion to a voltage output, so to make the readout operation compatible with a voltage mode system. This approach allows to achieve a high and tunable sensitivity, even at low supply voltages and, thanks to a simple current feedback operation, the insensitiveness to stray capacitances is achieved as well. Waiting for IC fabrication, preliminary measurements have been conducted using commercial components (AD844) to implement the VCII, showing a constant interface sensitivity up to 412 mV/pF and a maximum linearity error of 1.9%FS with the sensor baseline in the picofarad range.
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Barile, G. et al. (2023). Time Continuous VCII-Based Fully Analog Interface for Differential Capacitive Sensors. In: Di Francia, G., Di Natale, C. (eds) Sensors and Microsystems. AISEM 2021. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 918. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08136-1_56
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08136-1_56
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