Design of Reliable and Low-Cost Capacitance - to - Voltage

Converters
Mashhour M. Bani Amer, Assistant Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Jordan University of Science and
Technology, P.O.Box 3030, Irbid 22110, Jordan.

Abstract
Precise capacitance- to - voltage (C/V) converters research is reviewed. A
comparison of direct and indirect C/V converters is briefly presented. The design
techniques of C/V converter circuits are discussed. The practical investigations of
designed C/V converters are explained with examples to illustrate the achievable
characteristics.
1. Introduction
Capacitance is a valuable parameter in electronics and therefore many devices
have been developed to convert it to measurable electrical signal [1]-[5]. The
conversion of a capacitance - to - voltage plays an important role in capacitive
transducers as well as for characterizing RC active circuits. Capacitive transducers are
widely used especially in biomedical engineering, for example, for measurement of
blood pressure, acceleration, displacement, moisture of material and component
concentration in multi component fluids [6], [7]. The operation of capacitance sensors
is based on conversion of measured physical parameter (pressure, acceleration, and
displacement) into capacitance.
Therefore, to measure the capacitance, which is proportional to the desired
physical parameter by electrical method, this capacitance must be converted into
electrical signal (usually voltage). The electronic circuit used for this purpose is called
capacitance - to - voltage converter (C/V). The C/V converters are usually integrated
within the sensor in one package to form a capacitance - to - voltage transducer [8],
[9].
The C/V circuits can be divided into direct or indirect converters. The direct C/V
converters convert the capacitance - to - voltage directly while the indirect ones
convert first the capacitance into frequency or time and then this frequency or time is
converted into voltage.
Of course, before designing the direct or indirect C/V converters, a lot of
requirements that decide about the quality of designed C/V converter must be
established. These requirements are:
1. Nonlinearity
2. Resolution
3. Sensitivity
4. Accuracy
5. Stability
6. Reliability
7. Generated total output noise
8. Cost
Unfortunately, a lot of recent researches in this field do not take into
consideration all of the above requirements which may lead to erroneous C/V
conversion, caused by poor reliability, short - term stability, bad linearity or low
accuracy [10]-[14]. The present paper deals with experimental analysis and practical
design of C/V converters taking into accounts all of the above requirements.
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2. Direct Capacitance - to - Voltage Converters

To simplify the presentation of the direct C/V converters, they are divided into
two categories: conventional C/V converters (impedance bridge and diode quad
circuit) and the proposed C/V converter (capacitive voltage divider).
2.1. The conventional direct C/V converters
The conventional impedance bridge, as described by Lion [10], is shown in
Figure 1(a). A square - wave generator Ei , drives the network with a frequency f , and
the output voltage Vo, is given by the following equation, [10] :
Vo = [ Ei f R RL (R+2RL) (C1-C2) ] / (R+RL) .................(1)
To improve the design flexibility and reduce the power consumption the resistor R
and R1 Fig.1(a) are usually replaced by two diodes (Fig.1(b)).

Fig. 1. The conventional Capacitance - to - voltage converter [10]

(a) Twin bridge circuit
(b) Modified bridge circuit

The diode quad circuit is a modification of the conventional C/F converter shown in
Fig.1(b). It is based on using commercially available matched diode quads which
simplifies the circuit and improves its stability. Although, the diode quad circuit is an
improved derivation of the circuit in Fig.1(b), it has the following disadvantages:
(i)
The full - scale output range is limited due to non-linearity and
gain roll-off.
(ii)
The sensitivity and resolution of this circuit is reduced due to
effects of diodes stray capacitances and elements interconnection.
(iii)
The electronic circuit, which recovers the measured capacitance
Cx from the voltage Vo is not simple. This decreases the accuracy
of Cx measurements (caused by error propagation) and reliability
of the designed system.
(iv)
It needs two square signal sources which increases the cost of the
C/V converter.

2.2. The proposed direct C/V converter

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The previously discussed two methods were published in literature for directly
conversion of capacitance to voltage. These methods have many drawbacks. This is
why a decision was taken to design a simple, precise and reliable C/V converter free
from previously discussed disadvantages. This simple C/V converter is shown in
Fig.3. If a sinusoidal signal Vin is applied to the input terminals of the capacitive
voltage divider as shown in Fig.2, then the output voltage Vout can be given by:
Vout(rms) = Vin(rms) * Cx / (C1+Cx ) .............................. (2)
where Cx is the measured capacitance while C1 is a fixed capacitance .

Figure 2. Circuit diagram of the proposed C/V converter (capacitive voltage divider).

Of course, the linearity of this circuit is depending directly upon the ratio
Cx/(C1+ Cx). Thus, in order to achieve good linearity, the fixed capacitance C1 must
be at least ten times bigger than the measured Cx. If this condition is achieved then
equation 3 is reduced to:
Vout(rms) = Vin(rms) * Cx / C1 ...........................(3)
Therefore, the measured capacitance Cx, can be expressed as :
Cx = Vout(rms) * C1 / Vin(rms) ..........................(4)
Of course, C1 and Vin are known and have fixed values. Thus, if we assume that
C1 / Vin(rms)= a, then:
Cx = a Vout(rms)

.............................................(5)

Equation (5) implies that the proposed C/V converter has a linear characteristic
between the measured capacitance Cx and its output voltage (Vout). Moreover, in
comparison with the previously discussed conventional C/V converter, this circuit is
cheaper, more reliable and has better stability.
The output signal (Vout) of the capacitive voltage divider is sinusoidal signal. The
measured capacitance is proportional to the root mean square (rms) value of the
output voltage (Eq.5). Thus, to simplify the electronic recovering of the capacitance
using Eq.5, this AC voltage must be converted into DC voltage that will represent the
Vout(rms). Of course, the designed AC/DC converter must be precise and accurate.
Thus, the classical bridge rectifier circuit cannot be used because a voltage drop of
1.4V occurs across the diodes. Moreover, the output voltage of any rectifier circuit is
directly proportional to the average value but not to the rms value of its input
voltage. So, these problems must be taken into consideration during the design of
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AC/DC converter, otherwise an erroneous results may occur. To overcome these

problems, a new AC/DC converter is proposed (Fig. 3). In this circuit, the capacitor
C is a rectifier filter while the identical diodes D1 and D2 form a half-wave rectifier
and these diodes are arranged in a way in which no drop in the output voltage of the
capacitive voltage divider across these diodes will occur. Furthermore, the value of R1
and R2 were selected to ensure that the proposed AC/DC converter gives a DC output
equals to the Vout(rms) of the capacitive voltage divider. Thus, the proposed converter is
a precise one because there is no loss of the output signal of the capacitive voltage
divider during its conversion into DC.
The complete circuit diagram of the designed C/V converter is shown in Fig.4. The
input stage of the circuit in Fig.4 is a sine wave oscillator with an oscillation
frequency f=1.6 kHz and 5 V amplitude. Of course, this circuit can be easily
integrated to obtain a miniature IC C/V converter.

Fig. 3. Circuit diagram of designed precise AC-to-DC converter.

Fig. 4. The complete circuit of the proposed C/V converter.

The above circuit is experimentally tested for different ranges of Cx. A sample of the
obtained results for the measured capacitance Cx in the range of 1 F to 1 mF is
shown in Fig. 5. From this Figure, it is easy to see that this C/V converter has a linear
capacitance-voltage characteristic.

400

Vout (mV)

300

200

100

0
0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

Measured Capacitance

Fig. 5. Capacitance-Voltage characteristic of the proposed C/V converter.(C3 is set

to 10 mF)

3. Indirect Capacitance-to-Voltage Converters

The indirect conversion of capacitance-to-voltage is based on conversion of
capacitance changes into frequency or time periods. However these indirect C/V
converters have many troubles . First, the output frequency, which is proportional to
the measured capacitance, cannot be easily converted into voltage if it is necessary.
Second, the control of switches requires a relatively complex electronic system. This
is why attempt has been made to study the problem of indirect C - to - V conversion.
This study was lead to design a linear, accurate, simple, reliable and cheap C/V
converter.
The simplest way to convert the capacitance to frequency can be done by using
the 555 timer in the a stable mode (Fig. 6), [18]. The output frequency of 555 timer in
case of operation in the a stable mode is given by equation (6).
f = 1.44/{Cext * (R1 + 2R2) } ..............................(6)
Therefore, if R1 and R2 are fixed resistors then the frequency f will be function of
measured capacitance Cext only. Thus the change in the capacitance Cext will cause a
change in the output frequency f of 555 timer. This frequency can be converted into
voltage using the linear frequency-to-voltage (F/V) LM2917 converter [19].
Unfortunately, the capacitance-frequency (C-F) characteristic curve of 555 timer is
nonlinear (Fig.7). So, it does not easy to recover the measured capacitance by simple
analog electronic system which increases the complexity and decreases the reliability
of the designed C/V converter.

Fig. 6. Circuit diagram of 555 timer configured as C/F converter

16
14

F out [KHz]

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0

200

400

600

800

1000

C ext [pF]

Fig. 7. C-F characteristic curve of 555 timer in case of R1 = R2 =1 M

To eliminate these disadvantages, a simple and linear C/V converter is built
using the LM2917 as C/V converter instead of its usual use as F/V converter. This is
made possible by building an external square-wave generator using the 555 timer with
f=1136 Hz that drives the LM2917 and connecting RC elements with LM2917 that
ensure its operation as C/V converter (Fig. 8). Then, the obtained circuit is
experimentally tested and the obtained C-V characteristic curve is shown in Fig. 9.

Fig. 8. The proposed indirect Capacitance-to-Voltage Converter

14
12

Vout (V)

10
8
6
4
2
0
0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

C 1 (pF)

Figure 9. Capacitance-to voltage characteristic curve of the proposed indirect C/V

converter.
The relationship between the measured capacitance (Cx), and output voltage (Vout) of
C/V converter shown in Fig.10, can be expressed mathematically by:
Vout = fin * Cx * R3 * Vcc ..............................(7)
where
fin - the frequency of output signal of 555 timer
R3 - the resistance that is connected to pin 3 of LM2917.
Vcc - supply voltage that is connected to LM2917
Thus, if fin, R3 and Vcc have fixed values then the change of output voltage (Vout) will
be directly proportional to the change of measured capacitance. Therefore, the
suggested circuit in Figure 10 forms a linear C/V converter. Of course, the selection
of values of fin , R3 and Vcc depends on application range of the C/V converter .
The proposed C/V converter was applied to design a capacitance meter to
measure the capacitance in the range 0.1 nF to 10 mF by setting fin = 1 KHz , Vcc =
10V and R3 = 1 M. The obtained results using this C/V converter were precise. The
parameters of the proposed C/V converter could be improved by its integrating to
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obtain it in the form of IC C/V converter.

4. Experimental Results
The proposed C/V converters shown in Figures 4 & 8 and the diode quad C/V
converter (modified version of Fig(1.b)) were built in the laboratory and
experimentally tested to evaluate their linearity, resolution, sensitivity, accuracy,
stability and generated output noise.
To determine the nonlinearity of each C/V converter a lot of experimental
measurements were performed. The measuring principle was based on measurement
the output voltage for tested C/V converter at each change of the measured
capacitance Cx. The results obtained are presented on Fig.5 and Fig.9. The
nonlinearity measured over 0 F-1000 F range was found to be less than 100 ppm
for the capacitive voltage divider and about 215 ppm for the C/V converter shown in
Fig. 8. For the diode quad C/V converter which is the best C/V converter among the
previously discussed conventional converters, the measured nonlinearity was 137 ppm
over the range 0 F-1000 F.
The resolution of C/V converter can be defined as the largest change in the
measured capacitance that can occur without any corresponding change in the output
voltage. From experimental point of view, it is difficult to realize small variations in
the range of aF of the measured capacitance. However, to overcome this problem,
SPICE simulations were carried out with small changes (less than 10 aF) of the
measured Cx. The resolution obtained was 60 aF for the C/V converter, 62 aF for the
capacitive voltage-divider, and 83 aF for the circuit shown in Fig. 8.
The sensitivity is the rate of change of the output voltage with respect to the
change in the measured capacitance. The, sensitivity is found to be 0.40 mV/ F for
the capacitive-voltage divider C/V converter, 3.23 mV/ F for the C/V converter
shown in Fig.8, and 0.27 mV// F for the diode quad C/V converter.
The accuracy of the conventional or proposed C/V converters is influenced by
two main sources of errors: no idealities and nonlinearity. The nonidealities in the
C/V converters lead to additive and multiplicative errors. The main source of these
errors is the operational amplifier (op-amp) nonidealities that include the op-amp
input offset voltage and currents, input offset voltage drift with temperature and slew
rate. The additive and multiplicative errors can be eliminated using the three-signal
approach [1]. Therefore, the nonlinearity is the only error source that affects the
accuracy of C/V converter. Thus, the accuracy of the C/V converters is nearly equal to
the nonlinearity, provided that the three-signal approach is applied to determine Cx.
The reliability cannot be measured experimentally. However, the probability of
fault occurrence in the proposed direct C/V converters is less than the conventional
C/V converters.
The stability of the proposed and conventional C/V converters was also
experimentally evaluated. This was done by making use of a millivoltmeter connected
at the C/V converter output to measure the drift of converter output voltage during a
certain period of time. For each C/V converter, the value of measured capacitance Cx
was selected to obtain a 10 mV output signal (Vout = 10 mV). The conventional and
proposed C/V converters were placed in shielded boxes at ambient temperature. After
24 hours, the output signal was 10 mV, with small slow fluctuations with maximum
amplitude of 2 mV for the capacitive-voltage divider C/V converter, 7 mV for the
indirect proposed C/V converter, and 6 mV for the diode quad C/V converter.
Practically, this means that the voltage-divider C/V converter has better stability than
the conventional C/V converters.
Each element in C/V converter circuit generates a noise. Therefore, it is very
important to measure experimentally the total output noise originated from C/V
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converter. The spectral density of the output noise voltage of the proposed and
conventional converters was experimentally measured with a spectrum analyzer
HP35670A. The obtained total output noise voltage was 38 nV/ Hz for the
capacitive-voltage divider C/V converter, 54 nV/ Hz for the indirect C/V converter
shown in Fig. 8 and 58 nV/ Hz for the diode quad C/V converter.
5. Conclusions
From the experimental investigations discussed previously, it can be concluded
that the designed C/V converters have many advantages over the conventional C/V
converters such as long-term stability, simplicity, good sensitivity, high linearity and
reliability and low cost (Tab.1).
Table 1. Summary results of a comparison between the conventional and proposed
C/V converters
Conventional C/V
Proposed C/V converters
converter
C/V converter
Diode quad
Capacitive-Voltage
Indirect C/V
Divider (Fig.4)
Converter (Fig.8)
Parameter
Nonlinearity
137 ppm
100 ppm
215 ppm
Resolution

60 aF

62 aF

83 aF

Sensitivity

0.27 mV/ F

0.40 mV/ F

3.23 mV/ F

Accuracy

170 ppm

100 ppm

120 ppm

Stability

Stable

Long-term stability

Stable

Generated Output
Noise
Reliability

58 nV/ Hz

38 nV/ Hz

54 nV/ Hz

High

The highest

High

Cost

Low

The lowest

Low

The suggested in this paper C/V converters are universal. This means that they
can be used to convert the capacitance change of a capacitive transducer into voltage
or a capacitance of discrete capacitors into voltage with better accuracy and linearity
than the conventional C/V converters. Moreover, the designed direct or indirect C/V
converters do not require other circuits to convert capacitance to voltage. But, the
published C/V converters such as impedance bridge or diode quad circuit require
additional electronic circuits such as square-wave oscillators and a complex system
for recovering the capacitance from the output voltage of these C/V converters which
increases the cost and decreases the reliability of these C/V converters in comparison
with the proposed converters. Furthermore, the suggested converters can be easily
adapted for different applications because the selection of components that appear in
these converters is simpler than the conventional converters.
References

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