CMOS Current Feedback Operational Amplifier-Based Relaxation Generator for Capacity to Voltage Sensor Interface

Design of Signal Generators Using Active Elements Developed in I3T25 CMOS Technology Single IC Package for Illuminance to Frequency Conversion

This paper presents a compact and simple design of adjustable triangular and square wave functional generators employing fundamental cells fabricated on a single integrated circuit (IC) package. Two solutions have electronically tunable repeating frequency. The linear adjustability of repeating frequency was verified in the range between 17 and 264 kHz. The main benefits of the proposed generator are the follows: A simple adjustment of the repeating frequency by DC bias current, Schmitt trigger (threshold voltages) setting by DC driving voltage, and output levels in hundreds of mV when the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process with limited supply voltage levels is used. These generators are suitable to provide a simple conversion of illuminance to frequency of oscillation that can be employed for illuminance measurement and sensing in the agriculture applications. Experimental measurements proved that the proposed concept is usable for sensing of illuminance in the range from 1 up to 500 lx. The change of illuminance within this range causes driving of bias current between 21 and 52 μA that adjusts repeating frequency between 70 and 154 kHz with an error up to 10% between the expected and real cases.

New Nonlinear Active Element Dedicated to Modeling Chaotic Dynamics with Complex Polynomial Vector Fields

This paper describes evolution of new active element that is able to significantly simplify the design process of lumped chaotic oscillator, especially if the concept of analog computer or state space description is adopted. The major advantage of the proposed active device lies in the incorporation of two fundamental mathematical operations into a single five-port voltage-input current-output element: namely, differentiation and multiplication. The developed active device is verified inside three different synthesis scenarios: circuitry realization of a third-order cyclically symmetrical vector field, hyperchaotic system based on the Lorenz equations and fourth- and fifth-order hyperjerk function. Mentioned cases represent complicated vector fields that cannot be implemented without the necessity of utilizing many active elements. The captured oscilloscope screenshots are compared with numerically integrated trajectories to demonstrate good agreement between theory and measurement.

A VCII-Based Stray Insensitive Analog Interface for Differential Capacitance Sensors

In this paper, a novel approach to implement a stray insensitive CMOS interface for differential capacitive sensors is presented. The proposed circuit employs, for the first time, second-generation voltage conveyors (VCIIs) and produces an output voltage proportional to differential capacitor changes. Using VCIIs as active devices inherently allows the circuit to process the signal in the current domain, and hence, to benefit from its intrinsic advantages, such as high speed and simple implementation, while still being able to natively interface with voltage mode signal processing stages at necessity. The insensitiveness to the effects of parasitic capacitances is achieved through a simple feedback loop. In addition, the proposed circuit shows a very simple and switch-free structure (which can be used for both linear and hyperbolic sensors), improving its accuracy. The readout circuit was designed in a standard 0.35 μm CMOS technology under a supply voltage of ±1.65 V. Before the integrated circuit fabrication, to produce tangible proof of the effectiveness of the proposed architecture, a discrete version of the circuit was also prototyped using AD844 and LF411 to implement a discrete VCII. The achieved measurement results are in good agreement with theory and simulations, showing a constant sensitivity up to 412 mV/pF, a maximum linearity error of 1.9%FS, and acknowledging a good behavior with low baseline capacitive sensors (10 pF in the proposed measurements). A final table is also given to summarize the key specs of the proposed work comparing them to the available literature.