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Micromachines
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Advances in Capacitive Sensors
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Advances in Capacitive Sensors

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "A：Physics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2019) | Viewed by 29547

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Juan A. López-Villanueva

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electronics and Computer Technology, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Interests: devices for renewable-energy generation and storage; solar-hydrogen devices and systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Almudena Rivadeneyra

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Pervasive Electronics Advanced Research Laboratory (PEARL), Department of Electronics and Computer Technology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
Interests: sensors; electrical characterization; nanoelectronics; printed electronics; energy harvesting; energy conversion; flexible electronics; wearable electronics; biomedical sensor applications; RFID technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Capacitive sensors are an active research area with multiple advantages and a great applicability. Their numerous benefits, such as simple structure, cost-effectiveness, low-power consumption, low noise performance, reliability, and high adaptability to the environment, have made them very suitable for the measurement of many physical and chemical magnitudes. They are used in a wide variety of applications from tactile sensors, flexible human–computer interfaces, artificial muscles, wearable systems and electronic skin to material property monitoring, food inspection, or biological sensing, among others.

Detection mechanism can be based on changes in the sensor geometry or in variations of the dielectric properties of a sensing layer. Therefore, in addition to many proposals of new innovative geometries, there is also much research work on advanced materials and nanostructures based on them, as well as on fabrication technologies, such as those based on microsystems or additive techniques.

All of these aspects make capacitive sensors a very interdisciplinary research area that motivates launching this Special Issue. It aims to collect research papers, short communications, and review articles that focus on advanced capacitive sensor structures or systems based on novel geometries, fabrication procedures, innovative materials, and even measurement techniques, that could showcase the current state of research in this wide area.

Prof. Dr. Juan A. López-Villanueva
Dr. Almudena Rivadeneyra
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Sensing materials
  • Fabrication process
  • Integration
  • Transduction mechanism
  • Measurement techniques
  • Sensor design

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

2 pages, 172 KiB  
Editorial
Editorial for the Special Issue on Advances in Capacitive Sensors
by Juan A. López-Villanueva and Almudena Rivadeneyra
Micromachines 2020, 11(11), 993; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11110993 - 05 Nov 2020
Viewed by 1550
Abstract
Capacitive sensors are an active research area with multiple advantages and great applicability [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Capacitive Sensors)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

22 pages, 9803 KiB  
Article
Error Analysis of a Spherical Capacitive Sensor for the Micro-Clearance Detection in Spherical Joints
by Wen Wang, Wenjun Qiu, He Yang, Keqing Lu, Zhanfeng Chen and Bingfeng Ju
Micromachines 2020, 11(9), 837; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11090837 - 03 Sep 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2352
Abstract
Spherical joints have attracted increasing interest in the engineering applications of machine tools, industrial robots, medical equipment, and so on. As one of the promising methods of detecting the micro-clearance in spherical joints, the measurement accuracy of a spherical capacitive sensor could be [...] Read more.
Spherical joints have attracted increasing interest in the engineering applications of machine tools, industrial robots, medical equipment, and so on. As one of the promising methods of detecting the micro-clearance in spherical joints, the measurement accuracy of a spherical capacitive sensor could be affected by imperfectness during the manufacturing and installation of the sensor. This work presents error analysis of a spherical capacitive sensor with a differential structure and explores the dependence of the differential capacitance on manufacturing and the installation imperfectness. Five error sources are examined: the shape of the ball and the capacitive plate, the axial and radial offset of the plate, and the inclined installation of the plate. The mathematical models for calculating the capacitance errors of the spherical capacitive sensor are deduced and validated through a simulation using Ansoft Maxwell. The results show that the measurement accuracy of the spherical capacitive sensor is significantly affected by the shape of plates and ball, the axial offset, and the inclined angle of the plate. In contrast, the effect of the radial offset of the plate is quite small. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Capacitive Sensors)
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15 pages, 5233 KiB  
Article
Fabrication and Characterization of Humidity Sensors Based on Graphene Oxide–PEDOT:PSS Composites on a Flexible Substrate
by Francisco J. Romero, Almudena Rivadeneyra, Markus Becherer, Diego P. Morales and Noel Rodríguez
Micromachines 2020, 11(2), 148; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11020148 - 29 Jan 2020
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 3775
Abstract
In this paper, we present a simple, fast, and cost-effective method for the large-scale fabrication of high-sensitivity humidity sensors on flexible substrates. These sensors consist of a micro screen-printed capacitive structure upon which a sensitive layer is deposited. We studied two different structures [...] Read more.
In this paper, we present a simple, fast, and cost-effective method for the large-scale fabrication of high-sensitivity humidity sensors on flexible substrates. These sensors consist of a micro screen-printed capacitive structure upon which a sensitive layer is deposited. We studied two different structures and three different sensing materials by modifying the concentration of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) in a graphene oxide (GO) solution. The results show that the aggregation of the PEDOT:PSS to the GO can modify its electrical properties, boosting the performance of the capacitive sensors in terms of both resistive losses and sensitivity to relative humidity (RH) changes. Thus, in an area less than 30 mm2, the GO/PEDOT:PSS-based sensors can achieve a sensitivity much higher (1.22 nF/%RH at 1 kHz) than other similar sensors presented in the literature which, together with their good thermal stability, time response, and performance over bending, demonstrates that the manufacturing approach described in this work paves the way for the mass production of flexible humidity sensors in an inexpensive way. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Capacitive Sensors)
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14 pages, 8579 KiB  
Article
A MEMS Micro-g Capacitive Accelerometer Based on Through-Silicon-Wafer-Etching Process
by Kang Rao, Xiaoli Wei, Shaolin Zhang, Mengqi Zhang, Chenyuan Hu, Huafeng Liu and Liang-Cheng Tu
Micromachines 2019, 10(6), 380; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10060380 - 07 Jun 2019
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 7503
Abstract
This paper presents a micromachined micro-g capacitive accelerometer with a silicon-based spring-mass sensing element. The displacement changes of the proof mass are sensed by an area-variation-based capacitive displacement transducer that is formed by the matching electrodes on both the movable proof mass die [...] Read more.
This paper presents a micromachined micro-g capacitive accelerometer with a silicon-based spring-mass sensing element. The displacement changes of the proof mass are sensed by an area-variation-based capacitive displacement transducer that is formed by the matching electrodes on both the movable proof mass die and the glass cover plate through the flip-chip packaging. In order to implement a high-performance accelerometer, several technologies are applied: the through-silicon-wafer-etching process is used to increase the weight of proof mass for lower thermal noise, connection beams are used to reduce the cross-sensitivity, and the periodic array area-variation capacitive displacement transducer is applied to increase the displacement-to-capacitance gain. The accelerometer prototype is fabricated and characterized, demonstrating a scale factor of 510 mV/g, a noise floor of 2 µg/Hz1/2 at 100 Hz, and a bias instability of 4 µg at an averaging time of 1 s. Experimental results suggest that the proposed MEMS capacitive accelerometer is promising to be used for inertial navigation, structural health monitoring, and tilt measurement applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Capacitive Sensors)
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11 pages, 1924 KiB  
Article
Modeling and Analysis of the Noise Performance of the Capacitive Sensing Circuit with a Differential Transformer
by Yafei Xie, Ji Fan, Chun Zhao, Shitao Yan, Chenyuan Hu and Liangcheng Tu
Micromachines 2019, 10(5), 325; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10050325 - 15 May 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3041
Abstract
Capacitive sensing is a key technique to measure the test mass movement with a high resolution for space-borne gravitational wave detectors, such as Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and TianQin. The capacitance resolution requirement of TianQin is higher than that of LISA, as [...] Read more.
Capacitive sensing is a key technique to measure the test mass movement with a high resolution for space-borne gravitational wave detectors, such as Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and TianQin. The capacitance resolution requirement of TianQin is higher than that of LISA, as the arm length of TianQin is about 15 times shorter. In this paper, the transfer function and capacitance measurement noise of the circuit are modeled and analyzed. Figure-of-merits, including the product of the inductance L and the quality factor Q of the transformer, are proposed to optimize the transformer and the capacitance measurement resolution of the circuit. The LQ product improvement and the resonant frequency augmentation are the key factors to enhance the capacitance measurement resolution. We fabricated a transformer with a high LQ product over a wide frequency band. The evaluation showed that the transformer can generate a capacitance resolution of 0.11 aF/Hz1/2 at a resonant frequency of 200 kHz, and the amplitude of the injection wave would be 0.6 V. This result supports the potential application of the proposed transformer in space-borne gravitational wave detection and demonstrates that it could relieve the stringent requirements for other parameters in the TianQin mission. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Capacitive Sensors)
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12 pages, 8319 KiB  
Article
A Novel Approach for Detecting Rotational Angles of a Precision Spherical Joint Based on a Capacitive Sensor
by Wen Wang, He Yang, Min Zhang, Zhanfeng Chen, Guang Shi, Keqing Lu, Kui Xiang and Bingfeng Ju
Micromachines 2019, 10(5), 280; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi10050280 - 26 Apr 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2897
Abstract
Precision spherical joints are commonly employed as multiple degree-of-freedom (DOF) mechanical hinges in many engineering applications, e.g., robots and parallel manipulators. Real-time and precise measurement of the rotational angles of spherical joints is not only beneficial to the real-time and closed-loop control of [...] Read more.
Precision spherical joints are commonly employed as multiple degree-of-freedom (DOF) mechanical hinges in many engineering applications, e.g., robots and parallel manipulators. Real-time and precise measurement of the rotational angles of spherical joints is not only beneficial to the real-time and closed-loop control of mechanical transmission systems, but also is of great significance in the prediction and compensation of their motion errors. This work presents a novel approach for rotational angle measurement of spherical joints with a capacitive sensor. First, the 3-DOF angular motions of a spherical joint were analyzed. Then, the structure of the proposed capacitive sensor was presented, and the mathematical model for the rotational angles of a spherical joint and the capacitance of the capacitors was deduced. Finally, the capacitance values of the capacitors at different rotations were simulated using Ansoft Maxwell software. The simulation results show that the variation in the simulated capacitance values of the capacitors is similar to that of the theoretical values, suggesting the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed capacitive detection method for rotational angles of spherical joints. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Capacitive Sensors)
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Review

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20 pages, 2647 KiB  
Review
Recent Advances in Printed Capacitive Sensors
by Almudena Rivadeneyra and Juan Antonio López-Villanueva
Micromachines 2020, 11(4), 367; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11040367 - 01 Apr 2020
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 7698
Abstract
In this review paper, we summarize the latest advances in the field of capacitive sensors fabricated by printing techniques. We first explain the main technologies used in printed electronics, pointing out their features and uses, and discuss their advantages and drawbacks. Then, we [...] Read more.
In this review paper, we summarize the latest advances in the field of capacitive sensors fabricated by printing techniques. We first explain the main technologies used in printed electronics, pointing out their features and uses, and discuss their advantages and drawbacks. Then, we review the main types of capacitive sensors manufactured with different materials and techniques from physical to chemical detection, detailing the main substrates and additives utilized, as well as the measured ranges. The paper concludes with a short notice on status and perspectives in the field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Capacitive Sensors)
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