Source: http://www.analog.com
A basic sensor includes a receiver and a transmitter, each of which consists of metal traces formed on layers of a printed-circuit board (PCB). As shown in Figure 1, the AD714x has an on-chip excitation source, which is connected to the transmitter trace of the sensor. Between the receiver and the transmitter trace, an electric field is formed. Most of the field is concentrated between the two layers of the sensor PCB. However, a fringe electric field extends from the transmitter, out of the PCB, and terminates back at the receiver. The field strength at the receiver is measured by the on-chip sigma-delta capacitance-to-digital converter. The electrical environment changes when a human hand invades the fringe field, with a portion of the electric field being shunted to ground instead of terminating at the receiver. The resultant decrease in capacitance—on the order of femtofarads as compared to picofarads for the bulk of the electric field—is detected by the converter.
Figure 1. Sensing capacitance
In general, there are three parts to the capacitance-sensing solution, all of which can be supplied by Analog Devices.
- The driver IC, which provides the excitation, the capacitance-to-digital converter, and compensation circuitry to ensure accurate results in all environments.
- The sensor—a PCB with a pattern of traces, such as buttons, scroll bars, scroll wheels, or some combination. The traces can be copper, carbon, or silver, while the PCB can be FR4, flex, PET, or ITO.
- Software on the host microcontroller to implement the serial interface and the device setup, as well as the interrupt service routine. For high-resolution sensors such as scroll bars and wheels, the host runs a software algorithm to achieve high resolution output. No software is required for buttons.
Figure 2. Three-part capacitance-sensing solution