Handbook of modern sensors : physics, designs, and applications

765 Pages·2016·24.4 MB·English

by  Fraden

Jacob Fraden
Handbook
of Modern
Sensors
Physics, Designs, and Applications
Fifth Edition
Handbook of Modern Sensors

Jacob Fraden
Handbook of Modern
Sensors
Physics, Designs, and Applications
Fifth Edition
JacobFraden
FradenCorp.
SanDiego,CA,USA
ISBN978-3-319-19302-1 ISBN978-3-319-19303-8 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-19303-8
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Preface
Numerous computerized appliances wash clothes, prepare coffee, play music,
guardhomes,andperformendlessusefulfunctions.However,noelectronicdevice
operates without receiving external information. Even if such information comes
from another electronic device, somewhere in the chain, there is at least one
component that perceives external input signals. This component is a sensor.
Modern signal processors are the devices that manipulate binary codes generally
representedbyelectricimpulses.Asweliveinananalogworldthatmostlyisnot
digitalorelectrical(apartfromtheatomiclevel),sensorsaretheinterfacedevices
betweenvariousphysicalvaluesandtheelectroniccircuitsthat“understand”only
the language of moving electrical charges. In other words, sensors are eyes, ears,
and noses of the silicon chips. This book is about the man-made sensors that are
verymuchdifferentfromthesensingorgansoflivingorganisms.
Sincethepublicationofthepreviouseditionofthisbook,sensingtechnologies
have made remarkable leaps. Sensitivities of sensors have become higher, their
dimensions smaller, selectivity better, and prices lower. A new, major field of
application for sensors—mobile communication devices—has been rapidly
evolving. Even though such devices employ sensors that operate on the same
fundamental principles as other sensors, their use in mobile devices demands
specific requirements. Among these are miniature dimensions and complete inte-
grationwiththesignalprocessingandcommunicationcomponents.Hence,inthis
newedition,weaddressingreaterdetailthemobiletrendinsensingtechnologies.
Asensorconvertsinputsignalsofaphysicalnatureintoelectricaloutput.Thus,
wewillexamineindetailtheprinciplesofsuchconversionsandotherrelevantlaws
of physics. Arguably one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived, Leonardo da
Vinci,hadhisownpeculiarwayofpraying(accordingtoabookIreadmanyyears
ago, by Akim Volinsky, published in Russian in 1900). Loosely, it may be trans-
latedintomodernEnglishassomethinglike,“OhLord,thankyouforfollowingThy
ownlaws.”ItiscomfortingindeedthatthelawsofNaturedonotchange—itisour
appreciation of the laws that is continually refined. The sections of the book that
cover these laws have not changed much since the previous editions. Yet, the
sectionsthatdescribethepracticaldesignshavebeenrevisedsubstantially.Recent
ideas and developments have been added, while obsolete and less interesting
designsweredropped.
v
vi Preface
Inthecourseofmyengineeringwork,Ioftenwishedforabookwhichcombined
practical information on the many subjects relating to the most important physical
principles,design,anduseofvarioussensors.Ofcourse,IcouldbrowsetheInternet
orlibrarybookshelvesinsearchoftextsonphysics,chemistry,electronics,technical,
andscientificmagazines,buttheinformationisscatteredovermanypublicationsand
websites, and almost every question I was pondering required substantial research.
Little by little, I gathered practical information on everything which is in any way
related to various sensors and their applications to scientific and engineering
measurements. I also spent endless hours at a lab bench, inventing and developing
numerous devices with various sensors. Soon, I realized that the information I had
collectedwouldbequiteusefultomorethanoneplerson.Thisideapromptedmeto
writethisbook,andthisfifthupdatededitionistheproofthatIwasnotmistaken.
The topics included in the book reflect the author’s own preferences and
interpretations. Some may find a description of a particular sensor either too
detailed or broad or perhaps too brief. In setting my criteria for selecting various
sensorsforthisnewedition,Iattemptedtokeepthescopeofthisbookasbroadas
possible,optingformanydifferentdesignsdescribedbriefly(withoutbeingtrivial,
Ihope),ratherthanfewertreatedingreaterdepth.Thisvolume attempts(immod-
estlyperhaps)tocoveraverybroadrangeofsensorsanddetectors.Manyofthem
arewellknown,butdescribingthemisstillusefulforstudentsandforthoseseeking
aconvenientreference.
Bynomeansthisbookisareplacementforspecializedtexts.Itgivesabird’s-eye
view at a multitude of designs and possibilities, but does not dive in depth into
any particular topic. In most cases, I have tried to strike a balance between details
and simplicityofcoverage;howeversimplicity andclaritywerethemostimportant
requirementsIsetformyself.Mytruegoalwasnottopileupacollectionofinforma-
tionbutrathertoenticethereaderintoacreativemindset.AsPlutarchsaidnearlytwo
millenniaago,“Themindisnotavesseltobefilledbutafiretobekindled...”
Even though this book is for scientists and engineers, as a rule, the technical
descriptions and mathematic treatments generally do not require a background
beyond ahigh school curriculum.This is areference text which couldbe used by
students, researchers interested in modern instrumentation (applied physicists and
engineers),sensordesigners,applicationengineers,andtechnicianswhosejobisto
understand,select,ordesignsensorsforpracticalsystems.
Thepreviouseditionsofthisbookhavebeenusedquiteextensivelyasdesktop
referencesandtextbooksfortherelatedcollegecourses.Commentsandsuggestions
from sensor designers, application engineers, professors, and students have
prompted me to implement several changes and to correct errors. I am deeply
gratefultothosewhohelpedmetomakefurtherimprovementsinthisnewedition.
IoweadebtofgratitudeandmanythankstoDrs.EphraimSuhirandDavidPintsov
forassistingmeinmathematicaltreatmentoftransferfunctionsandtoDr.Sanjay
V.Patelforhisfurthercontributionstothechapteronchemicalsensors.
SanDiego,CA,USA JacobFraden
April12,2015
Contents
1 DataAcquisition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Sensors,Signals,andSystems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 SensorClassification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3 UnitsofMeasurements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 TransferFunctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1 MathematicalModels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1.1 Concept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1.2 FunctionalApproximations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1.3 LinearRegression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1.4 PolynomialApproximations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.1.5 Sensitivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1.6 LinearPiecewiseApproximation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1.7 SplineInterpolation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.1.8 MultidimensionalTransferFunctions. .. . . . .. . . .. 23
2.2 Calibration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.3 ComputationofParameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.4 ComputationofaStimulus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.4.1 UseofAnalyticalEquation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.4.2 UseofLinearPiecewiseApproximation. . . . . . . . . 29
2.4.3 IterativeComputationofStimulus
(NewtonMethod). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3 SensorCharacteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.1 SensorsforMobileCommunicationDevices. . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.1.1 RequirementstoMCDSensors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.1.2 Integration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.2 Span(Full-ScaleInput). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.3 Full-ScaleOutput. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.4 Accuracy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.5 CalibrationError. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 42
3.6 Hysteresis. . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . 43
3.7 Nonlinearity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
vii
viii Contents
3.8 Saturation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
3.9 Repeatability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.10 DeadBand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.11 Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.12 SpecialProperties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.13 OutputImpedance. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . 48
3.14 OutputFormat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.15 Excitation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.16 DynamicCharacteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.17 DynamicModelsofSensorElements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.17.1 MechanicalElements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.17.2 ThermalElements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.17.3 ElectricalElements.. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 57
3.17.4 Analogies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.18 EnvironmentalFactors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.19 Reliability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.19.1 MTTF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.19.2 ExtremeTesting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.19.3 AcceleratedLifeTesting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.20 ApplicationCharacteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.21 Uncertainty. .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. 65
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4 PhysicalPrinciplesofSensing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.1 ElectricCharges,Fields,andPotentials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.2 Capacitance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.2.1 Capacitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.2.2 DielectricConstant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.3 Magnetism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.3.1 FaradayLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.3.2 PermanentMagnets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.3.3 CoilandSolenoid. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.4 Induction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.4.1 LenzLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.4.2 EddyCurrents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.5 Resistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.5.1 SpecificResistivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
4.5.2 TemperatureSensitivityofaResistor. . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.5.3 StrainSensitivityofaResistor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
4.5.4 MoistureSensitivityofaResistor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.6 PiezoelectricEffect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4.6.1 CeramicPiezoelectricMaterials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
4.6.2 PolymerPiezoelectricFilms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
4.7 PyroelectricEffect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
4.8 HallEffect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Contents ix
4.9 ThermoelectricEffects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.9.1 SeebeckEffect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.9.2 PeltierEffect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
4.10 SoundWaves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
4.11 TemperatureandThermalPropertiesofMaterials. . . . . . . . . . 132
4.11.1 TemperatureScales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
4.11.2 ThermalExpansion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
4.11.3 HeatCapacity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
4.12 HeatTransfer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
4.12.1 ThermalConduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
4.12.2 ThermalConvection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
4.12.3 ThermalRadiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
5 OpticalComponentsofSensors. . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. 155
5.1 Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
5.1.1 EnergyofLightQuanta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
5.1.2 LightPolarization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
5.2 LightScattering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
5.3 GeometricalOptics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
5.4 Radiometry.. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . 160
5.5 Photometry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
5.6 Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
5.7 Mirrors. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 171
5.7.1 CoatedMirrors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
5.7.2 PrismaticMirrors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
5.8 Lenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
5.8.1 CurvedSurfaceLenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
5.8.2 FresnelLenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
5.8.3 FlatNanolenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
5.9 FiberOpticsandWaveguides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
5.10 OpticalEfficiency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
5.10.1 LensingEffect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
5.10.2 Concentrators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
5.10.3 CoatingsforThermalAbsorption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
5.10.4 AntireflectiveCoating(ARC). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
6 InterfaceElectronicCircuits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
6.1 SignalConditioners. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . 193
6.1.1 InputCharacteristics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
6.1.2 Amplifiers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
6.1.3 OperationalAmplifiers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
6.1.4 VoltageFollower. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201