A Novel Capacitive Sensor Interface Based on a Simple Capacitance-to-Phase Converter

A novel room temperature capacitive sensor interface circuit is proposed and successfully tested, which uses a modified All-Pass filter architecture combined with a simple series resonant tank circuit with a moderate Q-factor. It is fashioned from a discrete inductor with small dissipation resonating with a grounded capacitor acting as the sensing element to obtain a resolution of ∆C ~ 2 zF in a capacitance range of 10 – 30 pF. The circuit converts the change in capacitance to the change in the phase of a carrier signal in a frequency range with a central frequency set up by the tank circuit’s resonant frequency and is configured to act as a close approximation of the ideal All-Pass filter. This cancels out the effects of amplitude modulation when the carrier signal is imperfectly tuned to the resonance. The proposed capacitive sensor interface has been specifically developed for use as a front-end constituent in ultra-precision mechanical displacement measurement systems, such as accelerometers, seismometers, gravimeters and gravity gradiometers, where moving plate grounded air gap capacitors are frequently used. Some other applications of the proposed circuit are possible including the measurement of the electric field, where the sensing capacitor depends on the applied electric field, and cost effective capacitive gas sensors. In addition, the circuit can be easily adapted to function with very small capacitance values (1 - 2 pF) as is typical in MEMS-based transducers.