Impedance-to-digital converter for sensor array microsystems

Many emerging micro/nano sensor interfaces suitable for microsystem integration produce a change of impedance that must be monitored over a broad frequency range. This paper introduces a mixed-signal integrated circuit that can extract and digitize the real and imaginary components of a sensor's impedance response. The ultra compact size of this circuit enables each element in a multi-channel sensor array microsystem to have its own individual readout channel, permitting simultaneous readout and digitization of a high density sensor array. The circuit was fabricated in 0.5µm CMOS and occupies only 0.045mm2 per cell. With a 3.3V supply, each cell consumes only 5.2µW at a typical 200kHZ sampling frequency. For a 3mm by 3mm die, this circuit can be instantiated well over 100 times, which is sufficient for the needs of many anticipated sensor array microsystems.

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