Sensors & Transducers

Volume 82 www.sensorsportal.com ISSN 1726-5479

Issue 8
August 2007
Editor-in-Chief: professor Sergey Y. Yurish, phone: +34 696067716, fax: +34 93 4011989,
e-mail: [email protected]
Editors for Western Europe Editor South America
Meijer, Gerard C.M., Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands Costa-Felix, Rodrigo, Inmetro, Brazil
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Editor for Eastern Europe
Editors for North America Sachenko, Anatoly, Ternopil State Economic University, Ukraine
Datskos, Panos G., Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA
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Katz, Evgeny, Clarkson University, USA Ohyama, Shinji, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

Editorial Advisory Board

Abdul Rahim, Ruzairi, Universiti Teknologi, Malaysia Dickert, Franz L., Vienna University, Austria
Ahmad, Mohd Noor, Nothern University of Engineering, Malaysia Dieguez, Angel, University of Barcelona, Spain
Annamalai, Karthigeyan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Dimitropoulos, Panos, University of Thessaly, Greece
Science and Technology, Japan Ding Jian, Ning, Jiangsu University, China
Arcega, Francisco, University of Zaragoza, Spain Djordjevich, Alexandar, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Arguel, Philippe, CNRS, France Donato, Nicola, University of Messina, Italy
Ahn, Jae-Pyoung, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Korea Donato, Patricio, Universidad de Mar del Plata, Argentina
Arndt, Michael, Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany Dong, Feng, Tianjin University, China
Ascoli, Giorgio, George Mason University, USA Drljaca, Predrag, Instersema Sensoric SA, Switzerland
Atalay, Selcuk, Inonu University, Turkey Dubey, Venketesh, Bournemouth University, UK
Atghiaee, Ahmad, University of Tehran, Iran Enderle, Stefan, University of Ulm and KTB mechatronics GmbH,
Augutis, Vygantas, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania Germany
Avachit, Patil Lalchand, North Maharashtra University, India Erdem, Gursan K. Arzum, Ege University, Turkey
Ayesh, Aladdin, De Montfort University, UK Erkmen, Aydan M., Middle East Technical University, Turkey
Bahreyni, Behraad, University of Manitoba, Canada Estelle, Patrice, Insa Rennes, France
Baoxian, Ye, Zhengzhou University, China Estrada, Horacio, University of North Carolina, USA
Barford, Lee, Agilent Laboratories, USA Faiz, Adil, INSA Lyon, France
Barlingay, Ravindra, Priyadarshini College of Engineering and Fericean, Sorin, Balluff GmbH, Germany
Architecture, India Fernandes, Joana M., University of Porto, Portugal
Basu, Sukumar, Jadavpur University, India Francioso, Luca, CNR-IMM Institute for Microelectronics and
Beck, Stephen, University of Sheffield, UK Microsystems, Italy
Ben Bouzid, Sihem, Institut National de Recherche Scientifique, Tunisia Fu, Weiling, South-Western Hospital, Chongqing, China
Binnie, T. David, Napier University, UK Gaura, Elena, Coventry University, UK
Bischoff, Gerlinde, Inst. Analytical Chemistry, Germany Geng, Yanfeng, China University of Petroleum, China
Bodas, Dhananjay, IMTEK, Germany Gole, James, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
Borges Carval, Nuno, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal Gong, Hao, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Bousbia-Salah, Mounir, University of Annaba, Algeria Gonzalez de la Ros, Juan Jose, University of Cadiz, Spain
Bouvet, Marcel, CNRS – UPMC, France Granel, Annette, Goteborg University, Sweden
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Cai, Qingyun, Hunan University, China Guillet, Bruno, University of Caen, France
Campanella, Luigi, University La Sapienza, Italy Guo, Zhen, New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA
Carvalho, Vitor, Minho University, Portugal Gupta, Narendra Kumar, Napier University, UK
Cecelja, Franjo, Brunel University, London, UK Hadjiloucas, Sillas, The University of Reading, UK
Cerda Belmonte, Judith, Imperial College London, UK Hashsham, Syed, Michigan State University, USA
Chakrabarty, Chandan Kumar, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia Hernandez, Alvaro, University of Alcala, Spain
Chakravorty, Dipankar, Association for the Cultivation of Science, India Hernandez, Wilmar, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain
Changhai, Ru, Harbin Engineering University, China Homentcovschi, Dorel, SUNY Binghamton, USA
Chaudhari, Gajanan, Shri Shivaji Science College, India Horstman, Tom, U.S. Automation Group, LLC, USA
Chen, Rongshun, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan Hsiai, Tzung (John), University of Southern California, USA
Cheng, Kuo-Sheng, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan Huang, Jeng-Sheng, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan
Chiriac, Horia, National Institute of Research and Development, Romania Huang, Star, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
Chowdhuri, Arijit, University of Delhi, India Huang, Wei, PSG Design Center, USA
Chung, Wen-Yaw, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan Hui, David, University of New Orleans, USA
Corres, Jesus, Universidad Publica de Navarra, Spain Jaffrezic-Renault, Nicole, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, France
Cortes, Camilo A., Universidad de La Salle, Colombia Jaime Calvo-Galleg, Jaime, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
Courtois, Christian, Universite de Valenciennes, France James, Daniel, Griffith University, Australia
Cusano, Andrea, University of Sannio, Italy Janting, Jakob, DELTA Danish Electronics, Denmark
D'Amico, Arnaldo, Università di Tor Vergata, Italy Jiang, Liudi, University of Southampton, UK
De Stefano, Luca, Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystem, Italy Jiao, Zheng, Shanghai University, China
Deshmukh, Kiran, Shri Shivaji Mahavidyalaya, Barshi, India John, Joachim, IMEC, Belgium
Kang, Moonho, Sunmoon University, Korea South Kalach, Andrew, Voronezh Institute of Ministry of Interior, Russia
Kaniusas, Eugenijus, Vienna University of Technology, Austria Rodriguez, Angel, Universidad Politecnica de Cataluna, Spain
Katake, Anup, Texas A&M University, USA Rothberg, Steve, Loughborough University, UK
Kausel, Wilfried, University of Music, Vienna, Austria Royo, Santiago, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain
Kavasoglu, Nese, Mugla University, Turkey Sadana, Ajit, University of Mississippi, USA
Ke, Cathy, Tyndall National Institute, Ireland Sandacci, Serghei, Sensor Technology Ltd., UK
Khan, Asif, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India Sapozhnikova, Ksenia, D.I.Mendeleyev Institute for Metrology, Russia
Kim, Min Young, Koh Young Technology, Inc., Korea South Saxena, Vibha, Bhbha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India
Ko, Sang Choon, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Schneider, John K., Ultra-Scan Corporation, USA
Korea South Seif, Selemani, Alabama A & M University, USA
Kockar, Hakan, Balikesir University, Turkey Seifter, Achim, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA
Kotulska, Malgorzata, Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland Sengupta, Deepak, Advance Bio-Photonics, India
Kratz, Henrik, Uppsala University, Sweden Shearwood, Christopher, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Kumar, Arun, University of South Florida, USA Shin, Kyuho, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Korea
Kumar, Subodh, National Physical Laboratory, India Shmaliy, Yuriy, Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics,
Kung, Chih-Hsien, Chang-Jung Christian University, Taiwan Ukraine
Lacnjevac, Caslav, University of Belgrade, Serbia Silva Girao, Pedro, Technical University of Lisbon Portugal
Laurent, Francis, IMEC , Belgium Slomovitz, Daniel, UTE, Uruguay
Lay-Ekuakille, Aime, University of Lecce, Italy Smith, Martin, Open University, UK
Lee, Jang Myung, Pusan National University, Korea South Soleymanpour, Ahmad, Damghan Basic Science University, Iran
Lee, Jun Su, Amkor Technology, Inc. South Korea Somani, Prakash R., Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology,
Li, Genxi, Nanjing University, China India
Li, Hui, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China Srinivas, Talabattula, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Li, Xian-Fang, Central South University, China Srivastava, Arvind K., Northwestern University
Liang, Yuanchang, University of Washington, USA Stefan-van Staden, Raluca-Ioana, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Liawruangrath, Saisunee, Chiang Mai University, Thailand Sumriddetchka, Sarun, National Electronics and Computer Technology
Liew, Kim Meow, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Center, Thailand
Lin, Hermann, National Kaohsiung University, Taiwan Sun, Chengliang, Polytechnic University, Hong-Kong
Lin, Paul, Cleveland State University, USA Sun, Dongming, Jilin University, China
Linderholm, Pontus, EPFL - Microsystems Laboratory, Switzerland Sun, Junhua, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China
Liu, Aihua, Michigan State University, USA Sun, Zhiqiang, Central South University, China
Liu Changgeng, Louisiana State University, USA Suri, C. Raman, Institute of Microbial Technology, India
Liu, Cheng-Hsien, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan Sysoev, Victor, Saratov State Technical University, Russia
Liu, Songqin, Southeast University, China Szewczyk, Roman, Industrial Research Institute for Automation and
Lodeiro, Carlos, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal Measurement, Poland
Lorenzo, Maria Encarnacio, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain Tan, Ooi Kiang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore,
Lukaszewicz, Jerzy Pawel, Nicholas Copernicus University, Poland Tang, Dianping, Southwest University, China
Ma, Zhanfang, Northeast Normal University, China Tang, Jaw-Luen, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan
Majstorovic, Vidosav, University of Belgrade, Serbia Thumbavanam Pad, Kartik, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Marquez, Alfredo, Centro de Investigacion en Materiales Avanzados, Tsiantos, Vassilios, Technological Educational Institute of Kaval, Greece
Mexico Tsigara, Anna, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Greece
Matay, Ladislav, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia Twomey, Karen, University College Cork, Ireland
Mathur, Prafull, National Physical Laboratory, India Valente, Antonio, University, Vila Real, - U.T.A.D., Portugal
Maurya, D.K., Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Singapore Vaseashta, Ashok, Marshall University, USA
Mekid, Samir, University of Manchester, UK Vazques, Carmen, Carlos III University in Madrid, Spain
Mendes, Paulo, University of Minho, Portugal Vieira, Manuela, Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Portugal
Mennell, Julie, Northumbria University, UK Vigna, Benedetto, STMicroelectronics, Italy
Mi, Bin, Boston Scientific Corporation, USA Vrba, Radimir, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic
Minas, Graca, University of Minho, Portugal Wandelt, Barbara, Technical University of Lodz, Poland
Moghavvemi, Mahmoud, University of Malaya, Malaysia Wang, Jiangping, Xi'an Shiyou University, China
Mohammadi, Mohammad-Reza, University of Cambridge, UK Wang, Kedong, Beihang University, China
Molina Flores, Esteban, Benemirita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, Wang, Liang, Advanced Micro Devices, USA
Mexico Wang, Mi, University of Leeds, UK
Moradi, Majid, University of Kerman, Iran Wang, Shinn-Fwu, Ching Yun University, Taiwan
Morello, Rosario, DIMET, University "Mediterranea" of Reggio Calabria, Wang, Wei-Chih, University of Washington, USA
Italy Wang, Wensheng, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Mounir, Ben Ali, University of Sousse, Tunisia Watson, Steven, Center for NanoSpace Technologies Inc., USA
Mukhopadhyay, Subhas, Massey University, New Zealand Weiping, Yan, Dalian University of Technology, China
Neelamegam, Periasamy, Sastra Deemed University, India Wells, Stephen, Southern Company Services, USA
Neshkova, Milka, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria Wolkenberg, Andrzej, Institute of Electron Technology, Poland
Oberhammer, Joachim, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden Woods, R. Clive, Louisiana State University, USA
Ould Lahoucin, University of Guelma, Algeria Wu, DerHo, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology,
Pamidighanta, Sayanu, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), India Taiwan
Pan, Jisheng, Institute of Materials Research & Engineering, Singapore Wu, Zhaoyang, Hunan University, China
Park, Joon-Shik, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, Korea South Xiu Tao, Ge, Chuzhou University, China
Pereira, Jose Miguel, Instituto Politecnico de Setebal, Portugal Xu, Tao, University of California, Irvine, USA
Petsev, Dimiter, University of New Mexico, USA Yang, Dongfang, National Research Council, Canada
Pogacnik, Lea, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia Yang, Wuqiang, The University of Manchester, UK
Post, Michael, National Research Council, Canada Ymeti, Aurel, University of Twente, Netherland
Prance, Robert, University of Sussex, UK Yu, Haihu, Wuhan University of Technology, China
Prasad, Ambika, Gulbarga University, India Yufera Garcia, Alberto, Seville University, Spain
Prateepasen, Asa, Kingmoungut's University of Technology, Thailand Zagnoni, Michele, University of Southampton, UK
Pullini, Daniele, Centro Ricerche FIAT, Italy Zeni, Luigi, Second University of Naples, Italy
Pumera, Martin, National Institute for Materials Science, Japan Zhong, Haoxiang, Henan Normal University, China
Radhakrishnan, S. National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India Zhang, Minglong, Shanghai University, China
Rajanna, K., Indian Institute of Science, India Zhang, Qintao, University of California at Berkeley, USA
Ramadan, Qasem, Institute of Microelectronics, Singapore Zhang, Weiping, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Rao, Basuthkar, Tata Inst. of Fundamental Research, India Zhang, Wenming, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Reig, Candid, University of Valencia, Spain Zhou, Zhi-Gang, Tsinghua University, China
Restivo, Maria Teresa, University of Porto, Portugal Zorzano, Luis, Universidad de La Rioja, Spain
Rezazadeh, Ghader, Urmia University, Iran Zourob, Mohammed, University of Cambridge, UK
Robert, Michel, University Henri Poincare, France

Sensors & Transducers Journal (ISSN 1726-5479) is a peer review international journal published monthly online by International Frequency Sensor Association (IFSA).
Available in electronic and CD-ROM. Copyright © 2007 by International Frequency Sensor Association. All rights reserved.
 Sensors & Transducers Journal

Contents
Volume 82 www.sensorsportal.com ISSN 1726-5479
Issue 8
August 2007

Research Articles

Sensor Signal Conditioning

David Cheeke .................................................................................................................................... 1381

Sensor Interfaces for Private Home Automation: From Analog to Digital, Wireless and
Autonomous
E. Leder, A. Sutor, M. Meiler, R. Lerch, B. Pulvermueller, M. Guenther............................................ 1389

Bio-Techniques in Electrochemical Transducers: an Overview

Vikas & C. S. Pundir ........................................................................................................................... 1405

Design of a Novel Capacitive Pressure Sensor

Ebrahim Abbaspour-Sani, Sodabeh Soleimani .................................................................................. 1418

A Ppb Formaldehyde Gas Sensor for Fast Indoor Air Quality Measurements
Hélène Paolacci, R. Dagnelie, D. Porterat, François Piuzzi, Fabien Lepetit, Thu-Hoa Tran-Thi....... 1423

Modeling and Analysis of Fiber Optic Ring Resonator Performance as Temperature Sensor
Sanjoy Mandal, S.K.Ghosh, T.K.Basak.............................................................................................. 1431

An Optoelectronic Sensor Configuration Using ZnO Thick Film for Detection of Methanol
Shobhna Dixit, K. P. Misra, Atul Srivastava, Anchal Srivastava and R. K. Shukla ............................. 1443

Enhanced Acoustic Sensitivity in Polymeric Coated Fiber Bragg Grating

A. Cusano, S. D’Addio, A. Cutolo, S. Campopiano, M. Balbi, S. Balzarini, M. Giordano................... 1450

Lactase from Clarias Gariepinus and its Application in Development of Lactose Sensor
Sandeep K. Sharma, Neeta Sehgal and Ashok Kumar ..................................................................... 1458

Prism Based Real Time Refractometer

Anchal Srivastava, R. K. Shukla, Atul Srivastava,Manoj K. Srivastava and Dharmendra Mishra ..... 1470

Development of a micro-SPM (Scanning Probe Microscope) by post-assembly of a MEMS-

stage and an independent cantilever
Zhi Li, Helmut Wolff, Konrad Herrmann ............................................................................................. 1480

Design, Packaging and Characterization of a Langasite Monolithic Crystal Filter Viscometer

J. Andle, R. Haskell, R. Sbardella, G. Morehead, M. Chap, S. Xiong,J. Columbus, D. Stevens, and
K. Durdag............................................................................................................................................ 1486

Authors are encouraged to submit article in MS Word (doc) and Acrobat (pdf) formats by e-mail: [email protected]
Please visit journal’s webpage with preparation instructions: http://www.sensorsportal.com/HTML/DIGEST/Submition.htm

International Frequency Sensor Association (IFSA).

 Sensors & Transducers Journal, Vol.82, Issue 8, August 2007, pp. 1381-1388

Sensors & Transducers

ISSN 1726-5479
© 2007 by IFSA
http://www.sensorsportal.com

Sensor Signal Conditioning

David CHEEKE
Microbridge Technologies Inc.

Received: 29 June 2007 /Accepted: 20 August 2007 /Published: 27 August 2007

Abstract: The general problem of sensor signal conditioning is approached from the point of view of
separating the intrinsic sensor properties from those associated with inserting the sensor into a
conditioning circuit. This gives rise to a check list of attributes which would be useful to localize
problems which may arise in using sensing devices.

A second part of the presentation provides a survey of traditional sensor conditioning techniques,
going from simple analog op amp solutions to sophisticated digital technology using DSP and look up
tables of correction coefficients.

A final section covers the use of a promising new passive analog technology to adjust resistance values
using Rejustors. It is demonstrated that the Rejustor performance compares favorably to its digital
counterpart, the digital potentiometer. It is concluded that the Rejustor could provide a simple and
elegant solution to many sensor signal conditioning problems. Copyright © 2007 IFSA.

Keywords: Sensor signal conditioning, Rejustor, Analog sensor signal processor, DSP

1. Introduction
As divisional manager, you have just decided to upgrade your set of gas sensors installed on the
factory floor. Some of the gases involved are very toxic so you want to be sure that you choose the
best sensors and get them installed correctly so that they will work reliably for many years. What are
the parameters that you control in this process? What are those that you don’t? How can you improve
the reliability of your sensors? What are the things to look out for in the choices to be made between
different types of sensors and conditioning chips? These are some of the questions that this article
addresses on a generic level, with the objective of clearly establishing the separate areas of

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responsibility of the sensor manufacturer and of the designer of the associated conditioning circuitry.
An approach using a new analog technology that has exciting potential will also be presented.

A summary of the various sensor attributes is given in Table 1. Many of these are associated primarily
with the sensor, some primarily with the conditioning circuit and others which involve both sensor and
circuit. This distinction is not meant to be interpreted categorically, but its purpose is rather to show at
which level a problem is normally found. For example, irreversibility or hysteresis is strictly a sensor
problem, and no amount of external circuitry can correct for it. Offset can be classified as
fundamentally a circuit problem and appropriate circuit parameters need to be chosen to compensate
offset for a given sensor. Finally, spurious variations with temperature can happen in both sensor and
circuit, so both sources must be considered when applying corrective action.

Table 1. Table of sensor parameters, distinguishing sensor, sensor-circuit and circuit concerns.

Mainly Sensor Calibration

Saturation
Sensitivity
Minimum detectable signal
Selectivity
Reversibility
Reproducibility
Aging
Response time

Sensor and Electronics Drift

Noise
Linearity
Dynamic response

Mainly Electronics Offset

Span
Stray resistance
Thermoelectric effects
Device temperature

The various parameters dependent mainly on the sensor are summarized below:
• Calibration. This is basically a manufacturing issue, and the official calibration data of the sensor,
with accuracy, temperature range etc, are normally supplied by the manufacturer.
• Saturation. As with all electronic devices, sensors have a linear regime (generally small signal) and
at some point for large enough stimuli the output will start to saturate. This is shown generically in
Fig. 1 (a) for the intrinsic response of an ideal sensor. The user must be incorporate the linear region
into the functional range of the sensor and avoid using it in the saturation regime.
• Sensitivity. This is given by the slope of Fig.1 (a), i.e., the marginal increase in output for a
marginal stimulus increase. Not to be confused with the minimum detectable signal.
• Minimum detectable signal. The smallest signal that can be accurately measured. This is
particularly important for gas sensors that are used to measure trace amounts of material and magnetic
field sensors.
• Selectivity (Absence of cross effects). Cross effects can be a real problem for the manufacturers
(and users!) of certain types of sensors. For example, polymer films are commonly used for gas
sensing, but they are notoriously sensitive to humidity, which we call a cross effect. Obviously it is

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very important to be certain that you are indeed measuring what you want to sense and not some
extraneous effect.
• Irreversibility (Hysteresis). This is again a manufacturing issue or a property of the materials used
in the sensor, and unless it is quantifiable cannot be compensated by circuitry. Many sensing
mechanisms, such as those based on magnetic materials are intrinsically susceptible to this effect.
• Reproducibility. Two nominally identical sensors from the same batch should give the same
response to a given stimulus. If not, sensors might have to be calibrated individually.
• Aging. This can be described as a slow drift of sensor properties with time over the long term.
There can be many causes, usually mostly related to slow degradation of the sensing material itself. If
the change is constant with time it could in principle be compensated.
• Response time. Not usually a problem, but it can be very long (minutes, hours) for some adsorption
based gas sensors, especially after continual use and hence when the sensor is near the saturation
regime.

There is a related list of properties where both the sensor and the conditioning electronics are typically
equally important:
• Drift. This term is often used for the specific case of cross effects due to temperature variations,
although some use the term to describe any variation with time.
• Noise. Noise may originate from the sensor (e.g., Johnson noise for resistive sensors) or from the
conditioning circuit.
• Linearity. Departures from linearity, including nonlinear thermal effects may come from the sensor
and the associated circuitry. This can often be corrected by the use of polynomial functions, as would
be the case for the total system response shown in Fig. 1(b). The task of the signal conditioning is to
linearise the effective output signal from the system.
• Dynamic response. This may be intrinsic to the sensor; for example, ultrasonic sensors operate at
high frequencies and have a characteristic frequency response. This may be strongly modified by the
circuit, usually due to stray capacitance or stray inductance.

Finally, there are several important system parameters which are usually determined by the circuitry
alone:
• Offset. For the case of a resistive sensor in a Wheatstone bridge, an offset voltage will occur if the
bridge is not balanced in the absence of a stimulus. The offset must be corrected either by trimming
bridge resistors or using compensation at later stages.
• Span. This can be defined as the full scale output minus the offset. If the gain is varied then several
ranges in the output signal are possible.
• Stray lead and contact resistances, which must be compensated.
• Stray thermoelectric voltages which will occur if temperature gradients are present.
• Device temperature. Several systems use onboard EEPROMS and lookup tables to correct for
temperature variations. Great care must then be taken to reduce the thermal contact resistance between
the sensor and the thermal sink of the circuitry. If this isn’t done there will be potentially large errors in
the estimated sensor temperature and the whole exercise becomes pointless.

In the next two sections it will be shown how this class of circuit issues has been addressed by
traditional sensor conditioning and then how the problem could be approached using a new, analog,
Rejustor-based technology.

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(a) (b)

Fig. 1. Sensor stimulus response curves

(a) Idealized sensor response;
(b) Possible output signal for a real world, non-conditioned sensor and amplifier circuit.

2. Traditional Sensor Conditioning

There is a hierarchy of possible approaches to sensor conditioning, which to some extent follows
chronologically, in that the first systems were based on simple analog circuits, followed by a trend
towards increasing use of digital techniques. The resistance- based sensor in a Wheatstone bridge
measurement configuration will be considered for discussion purposes.

Historically analog conditioning was based on a simple readout of the output voltage of the bridge.
Various ingenious techniques were devised to compensate for spurious thermal effects. For the special
case of resistive temperature sensors, the R(T) characteristic could be linearized by the suitable choice
of two resistances in series with different static temperature coefficients, such as Platinum and Nickel.
For other than temperature sensors, thermal drift effects in the bridge could be compensated in a
similar fashion by choosing the bridge resistive elements to give constant ratios as a function of
temperature, leading to an approximately temperature independent output. Another trick that is
especially useful for strain gauges is to use two or four active elements in the bridge. The latter case
provides very good temperature compensation and an output that is four times larger than for a single
element.

While the basic bridge circuit is simple enough it presents several challenges. The output is small
(microvolts to millivolts) riding on a high common mode DC level and has associated temperature
dependent noise and offset. All of these aspects must be addressed by the conditioner. A fairly
standard analog sensor signal processor (ASSP) approach, which can be designated as first generation,
uses an instrumentation amplifier (in amp). The latter amplifies the bridge’s difference voltage and
also gives good rejection of common mode noise. In this simple example, offset errors would be
trimmed out manually. This first generation approach has the big advantage of simplicity, but it has
poor performance compared to more recent solutions, particularly regarding compensation for
nonlinearities and temperature. Moreover, manual adjustment by tweaking pots is time consuming and
hence expensive.

A significant improvement on the basic in - amp can be obtained by use of a programmable amplifier,
such as the Analog Devices AD 8555. This is a zero drift bridge sensor amplifier with programmable
gain and offset. The latter feature is provided by Digitrim technology, whereby appropriate resistance
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values are determined experimentally for the circuit at hand and then set permanently by blowing on
board Polysilicon fuses. This chip provides a clear path from the bridge to an ADC and subsequent
further signal processing. Other useful features for practical applications are a fault detector for short,
open or floating inputs and the possibility of adding a low pass filter.

Other recent conditioners exploit the advantages of digital technology on board the chip and adopt a
hybrid approach in an attempt to get the best of both worlds. The first members of this group are still
ASSP devices, in that all of the actual signal processing is done in the analog domain. The
improvement is that compensation data for linearization, temperature and offset compensation etc are
stored in an EEPROM, as are digitized data from an onboard temperature sensor converted by an
ADC. A simplified block diagram of a generic device is shown in Fig 2. The stored data is accessed by
an on board DAC, and the offset and gain data are supplied directly to the analog amplifier.
Linearization is carried out by using the stored linearization data to scale the bridge supply voltage.
This purely analog conditioning is simple and eliminates the brute force curve fitting of the all digital
processor to be described below. However there is the cost and bother associated with inputting the
stored data. Also, the DAC, which is the heart of the system, must be high resolution for a high
performance device, and this can be expensive. Examples of this type of conditioner are the Texas
Instruments PGA 309, the Maxim MAX 1450 (basic), MAX1458 (mid range) and MAX 1457
(top end).

An alternative approach is to use analog technology for the front end and DSP for compensation and
error correction functionality. The sensor IC conditioning chip is built by mixed signal CMOS
technology. A simplified generic block diagram is shown in Fig. 3. The input from a sensor bridge is
applied to a PGA with four gain settings and coarse input control. The data from a temperature sensor
which has a supply voltage ratiometric with the sensor bridge is analog multiplexed, together with the
sensor data, the whole then converted by a 16 bit ADC for digital processing. Calculation and
compensation coefficients are stored in an EEPROM. The DSP uses this data and the digitized
temperature data to calculate compensation corrections, which are then passed to an analog or 12 bit
digital output. The use of high precision DSP, DAC and ADC allows accurate treatment of first and
second order temperature effects for gain, offset and sensor response. Typical performance numbers
for a chip of this type, the MAX 1460, are better than 0.5% overall accuracy and span and offset errors
less than 0.05%. The ZMD 31015 is another example of a conditioner employing DSP.

Fig. 2. Block diagram of ASSP conditioner.

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Fig. 3. Block diagram of DSP conditioner.

Passive Analog Compensation Using Rejustors

Recently a different approach has been developed for analog adjustment and sensor conditioning using
a new passive resistor technology. Microbridge’s Rejustor is a passive, VLSI and MEMS compatible,
adjustable micro-resistor. It is based on standard CMOS technology, whereby a Polysilicon resistance
and its associated heating resistor are situated on a suspended microstructure created by bulk
micromachining. The resulting high thermal isolation permits the microstructure to quickly rise to
temperatures of the order of 500-800C with a few milliwatts of local heating. Polysilicon is a thermally
mutable material, so that the electrical resistance changes with each heating cycle. The use of an
adaptive algorithm to control the heating sequence allows the steady state resistance to be varied over a
wide range, typically as much as 30% down from the initial value. A full account of the Rejustor
technology, together with a number of applications, has been given elsewhere (4).

There are many characteristics of the Rejustor that are of interest in the present context. Firstly, it is
passive and non-volatile, which makes it very flexible in this application. The operation is reversible
and can be repeated many times, so this is not a one-off process like burning fuses. The footprint of the
device is small (typically a few hundred microns square) and the process is CMOS compatible, so that
the technology could easily be integrated into an IC. Most importantly, the resistance of the Rejustor
can be varied after packaging, so that adjustment by the user in field conditions is not only feasible but
desirable for many applications. Finally, it has been found that over a limited range the temperature
dependant coefficient of resistance or TCR of the Rejustor can be varied independently from the
absolute value of the resistance (Microbridge’s eTCR product line). This makes the device a tailor
made candidate for sensor conditioning, where both functions are required.

Intuitively, the most obvious application of Rejustors to sensor conditioning is to use them in the arms
of the Wheatstone bridge, both as reference and ratio resistors, as shown in Fig. 4. The bridge can be
balanced at ambient temperature, giving a coarse offset control. Careful choice of eTCR matching can
be used to compensate temperature drift.

Rejustors can be used equally effectively at the gain stages. They have a natural application area in the
gain and offset of op amps, as shown in Fig.5. Relative to input voltages, offsets of a few microvolts
and gain control better than 0.1% are attainable. The eTCR of these Rejustors can be controlled to
compensate the drift of the op amp and associated circuitry. If one is looking for high precision and
stability then even small temperature changes can be deleterious. In this context, advantage can be
taken of the use of TCR matched pairs of Rejustors, so that their relative TCR (RTCR) effect is as
small as possible.

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Fig. 4. Rejustors in Wheatstone bridge circuit. ( Ref.4).

Fig. 5. Rejustors for op amp adjustment. (Ref.4).

Rejustors can be used to great effect in differential in - amps, which we have seen are very useful for
ASSP. An example is shown in Fig. 6, which is explained in detail in reference 4. All of the resistors in
this circuit could be replaced by Rejustors, which would provide high CMRR and sensitive gain and
offset control. Recalling the various functions required of the sensor circuitry, it is clear from the
above that conditioning problems relating to gain, offset and thermal effects can be effectively
addressed by the use of Rejustors. The gain and offset functions would normally be carried out using a
trim pot, or more recently by devices such as a digital potentiometer. A comparison of some of the
principal characteristics of a Rejustor and a recent model digital potentiometer is shown in Table 2.
Clearly the Rejustor compares favorably as regards resolution, temperature range and frequency
response, whereas the digital potentiometer has a lower TCR. It is also possible to have much larger
resistance excursions with the latter. However, the big advantage of using the Rejustor is that thermal
effects can be compensated independently of the resistance values. In many cases this will be sufficient
to solve the whole sensor conditioning problem, resulting in significant advantages in cost saving and
simplicity.

Drift with time and aging could be dealt with in principle by periodic re-adjustment of the Rejustors or
re-calibration, taking advantage of the field adjustment capability. If the drift was very regular with
time this compensation could even be programmed by additional circuitry in the system to take place
continuously or periodically. Linearization with respect to temperature is in principle addressable by
use of an appropriate series-parallel combination of Rejustors in the spirit of classical passive analog
signal processing; of course here the approach is much more powerful, thanks to the unique feature of
independently controllable R and TCR. Indeed, with the possibilities of integration and
programmability, the future looks very bright for the widespread application of Rejustors in sensor
conditioning.
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Table 2. Performance comparison of Low-TCR Rejustor and MAX 5128 digital potentiometer.

Parameter Low TCR Rejustor Digital Potentiometer

MAX 5128
Package Size (mm) 3 x 3 Typical 2X2
Resolution < 0.1% < 1%
Temperature range -40C to + 125C -40C to +85C
Ratiometric TCR (ppm/C) 50 ppm/K 5
TCR (ppm/C) 100 ppm/K 50
Standby supply current Nil (passive) 1.5 micro amps
Maximum frequency > 2 GHz 400kHZ *
Interface Rejust-It software and 2 trim 2 wire digital (up/down)
pins calibration and power
Cost ( $US,1000 up) 0.53 ** 0.68

* Wiper bandwidth
** Rejustor supplied in a dual package costing $1.06

Fig. 6. Rejustors in instrumentation amplifiers ( Ref.4).

References
[1]. R. Pallas-Areny and J. G. Webster, Sensors and Signal Conditioning, John Wiley & Sons, New York,
1991.
[2]. TI Product Note for PGA309, #SBOS92B, Revised January 2005.
[3]. Maxim Application Note 743 (see also the January 2001 issue of Sensor Magazine).
[4]. Http://www.mbridgetech.com - for technical articles on the Rejustor technology. The articles “Rejustor
electrically adjustable resistor technology” and “ Rejustor based amplifier compensation” are directly
relevant to the present discussion.

___________________

2007 Copyright ©, International Frequency Sensor Association (IFSA). All rights reserved.
(http://www.sensorsportal.com)

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