| 摘要 |
<p>A capacitive sensor is based on configurable electrodes, i.e. by different electrical connections of the electrodes or subunits or groups of electrodes and by varying the electrical connections to the read-out circuitry the distribution of the electric field lines of a sensor capacitor is modified. This enables to perform two or more independent measurements with the same sensor, thus reducing the number of required sensors. This in turn significantly decreases cost and efficiently improves signal quality at the same time. Since the identical sensor may be used for measuring and as reference, a perfect matching is ensured, i.e. any variations in the sensor or its sensitive coating are cancelled out. Sensor drift and any influence of interferants, such as humidity, are reduced, and the sensor signals are rendered more stable. When intergrated on a microchip, the chip size can be drastically reduced, since fewer sensors (capacitors) are required on the chip. <IMAGE> <IMAGE></p> |
