High High Impedance Charge Output Sensors.

High impedance transducers such as piezoelectric sensors, hydrophones,

andsome accelerometers require an amplifier which converts a transfer of
charge intoa change of voltage. Because of the high DC output impedance of
these devices,appropriate buffers are required. The basic circuit for an inverting
charge sensitiveamplifier is shown in FIG. 4.29. There are basically two types of
chargetransducers: capacitive and charge-emitting. In a ca pacitive transducer,
thevoltage across the capacitor (VC) is held constant. The change in capaci
tance,?C, produces a change in charge, ?Q = ?CVC. This charge is transferred
to theop amp output as a voltage,

fivOUT = -?Q/C2 = -?CVC/C2.

Charge-emitting transducers produce an output charge, ?Q, and their output

capacitance remains constant. This charge would normally produce an open-
circuit output voltage at the transducer output equal to ?Q/C. However, since the
voltage across the transducer is held constant by the virtual ground of the op amp
(R1 is usually small), the charge is transferred to capaci tor C2 producing an
output voltage fivOUT = -?Q/C2.

In an actual application, the charge amplifier only responds to AC inputs. The

upper cutoff frequency is given by f2 = 1/2pR2C2, and the lower by

f1 = 1/2pR1C1.

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FIG. 4.29: Charge amplifier for capacitive sensor.

Low Noise Charge Amplifier Circuit Configurations

FIG. 4.30 shows two ways to buffer and amplify the output of a charge output
transducer. Both require using an amplifier which has a very high input
impedance, such as the AD745. The AD745 provides both low voltage and low
current noise. This combina tion makes this device particularly suitable in
applications requiring very high charge sensitivity, such as capacitive
accelerometers and hydrophones.

The first circuit (left) in FIG. 4.30 uses the op amp in the inverting mode.
Amplification depends on the principle of conservation of charge at the inverting
input of the amplifier. The charge on capacitor CS is transferred to capacitor CF,
thus yielding an output voltage of ?Q/CF. The amplifier's input voltage noise will
appear at the output amplified by the AC noise gain of the circuit, 1 + CS/CF.

The second circuit (right) shown in FIG. 4.30 is simply a high impedance follower
with gain. Here the noise gain (1 + R2/R1) is the same as the gain from the
transducer to the output.

Resistor RB, in both circuits, is required as a DC bias current return.

To maximize DC performance over temperature, the source resistances should be

balanced on each input of the amplifier. This is represented by the resistor RB
shown in FIG. 4.30. For best noise performance, the source capacitance should
also be balanced with the capacitor CB. In general, it is good practice to balance
the source impedances (both resistive and reactive) as seen by the inputs of a
precision low noise BiFET amplifiers such as the AD743/AD745. Balancing the
resistive high impedance sensors components will optimize DC performance over
temperature because balancing will mitigate the effects of any bias current errors.
Balancing the input capacitance will minimize AC response errors due to the
amplifier's nonlinear common mode input capacitance, and as shown in FIG.
4.30, noise performance will be optimized. In any FET input amplifier, the current
noise of the internal bias circuitry can be coupled to the inputs via the gate-to-
source capacitances (20 pF for the AD743 and AD745) and appears as excess
input voltage noise. This noise component is correlated at the inputs, so source
impedance matching will tend to cancel out its effect. FIG. 4.30 shows the
required external components for both inverting and noninverting configurations.
For values of CB greater than 300 pF, there is a diminishing impact on noise, and
CB can then be simply a large mylar bypass capacitor of 0.01 µF or greater.

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FIG. 4.30: Balancing source impedances minimizes effects of bias currents and
reduces input noise.

A 40dB Gain Piezoelectric Transducer Amplifier Operates on Reduced Supply

Voltages for Lower Bias Current

FIG. 4.31 shows a piezoelectric transducer amplifier connected in the voltage-

output mode. Reducing the power supplies to +5 V reduces the effects of bias
current in two ways: first, by lowering the total power dissipation and, second, by
reducing the basic gate-to-junction leakage current. The addition of a clip-on heat
sink such as the Aavid #5801 will further limit the internal junction tempera ture
rise.

Without the AC coupling capacitor C1, the amplifier will operate over a range of
0°C to +85°C. If the optional AC coupling capacitor C1 is used, the circuit will
operate over the entire -55°C to +125°C temperature range, but DC information is
lost.

Hydrophones

Interfacing the outputs of highly capacitive transducers such as hydrophones,

some accelerometers, and condenser microphones to the outside world presents
many design challenges. Previously designers had to use costly hybrid amplifiers
consisting of discrete low-noise JFETs in front of conventional op amps to achieve
the low levels of voltage and current noise required by these applications. Now,
using the AD743 and AD745, designers can achieve almost the same level of
performance of the hybrid approach in a monolithic solution.

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In sonar applications, a piezo-ceramic cylinder is commonly used as the active

element in the hydrophone. A typical cylinder has a nominal capacitance of
around 6,000 pF with a series resistance of 10 ohm. The output impedance is
typically 108 ohm or 100 M-ohm.

Since the hydrophone signals of interest are inherently AC with wide dynamic
range, noise is the overriding concern among sonar system designers. The noise
floor of the hydrophone and the hydrophone preamplifier together limit the
sensitivity of the system and therefore the overall usefulness of the hydrophone.
Typical hydrophone bandwidths are in the 1 kHz to 10 kHz range. The AD743 and
AD745 op amps, with their low noise figures of 2.9 nV_/Hz and high input
impedance of 10^10 ohm (or 10 G ohm) are ideal for use as hydrophone
amplifiers.

FIG. 4.31: Gain of 100 piezoelectric sensor amplifier.

The AD743 and AD745 are companion amplifiers with different levels of internal
compensation. The AD743 is internally compensated for unity gain stability. The
AD745, stable for noise gains of five or greater, has a much higher bandwidth and
slew rate. This makes the AD745 especially useful as a high-gain preamplifier
where it provides both high gain and wide bandwidth. The AD743 and AD745
also operate with extremely low levels of distortion: less than 0.0003% and
0.0002% (at 1 kHz), respectively.

Op Amp Performance: JFET versus Bipolar

The AD743 and AD745 op amps are the first monolithic JFET devices to offer the

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low input voltage noise comparable to a bipolar op amp without the high input
bias currents typically associated with bipolar op amps. FIG. 4.32 shows input
voltage noise versus input source resistance of the bias-current compensated
OP27 and the JFET-input AD745 op amps. Note that the noise levels of the
AD743 and the AD745 are identical. From this figure, it is clear that at high source
impedances, the low cur rent noise of the AD745 also provides lower overall
noise than a high performance bipolar op amp. It is also important to note that,
with the AD745, this noise reduction extends all the way down to low source
impedances. At high source impedances, the lower DC current errors of the
AD745 also reduce errors due to offset and drift as shown in FIG. 4.32.

FIG. 4.32: Effects of source resistance on noise and offset voltage for OP27
(bipolar) and AD745 (BiFET) op amps.

FIG. 4.33: A pH probe buffer amplifier with a gain of 20 using the AD795 precision
BiFET op amp.

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FIG. 4.34: Generic imaging system for scanners or digital cameras.

A PH Probe Buffer Amplifier

A typical pH probe requires a buffer amplifier to isolate its 10^6 to 109 ohm
source resis-tance from external circuitry. Such an amplifier is shown in FIG. 4.33.
The low input current of the AD795 allows the voltage error produced by the bias
current and electrode resistance to be minimal. The use of guard ing, shielding,
high insulation resistance standoffs, and other such standard picoamp meth ods
used to minimize leakage are all needed to maintain the accuracy of this circuit.

The slope of the pH probe transfer function, 50mV per pH unit at room
temperature, has an approximate +3500 ppm/°C temperature coefficient. The
buffer shown in FIG. 4.33 provides a gain of 20 and yields an output voltage equal
to 1 volt/pH unit. Temperature compensation is provided by resistor RT which is a
special tem perature compensation resistor, 1 k-ohm , 1%, +3500 ppm/°C,
#PT146 available from Precision Resistor Co., Inc. (Reference 18).

CCD/CIS Image Processing

The charge-coupled-device (CCD) and contact-image-sensor (CIS) are widely

used in consumer imaging systems such as scanners and digital cameras. A
generic block diagram of an imaging system is shown in FIG. 4.34. The imag ing
sensor (CCD, CMOS, or CIS) is exposed to the image or picture much like film is
exposed in a camera. After exposure, the out put of the sensor undergoes some
analog signal processing and then is digitized by an ADC. The bulk of the actual
image processing is performed using fast digital signal processors. At this point,
the im-

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