An automatic offset calibration method for differential charge-based capacitance measurement

Charge-Based Capacitance Measurement (CBCM) technique is a simple but effective technique for measuring capacitance values down to the attofarad level. However, when adopted for fully on-chip implementation, this technique suffers output offset caused by mismatches and process variations. This paper introduces a novel method that compensates the offset of a fully integrated differential CBCM electronic front-end. After a detailed theoretical analysis of the differential CBCM topology, we present and discuss a modified architecture that compensates mismatches and increases robustness against mismatches and process variations. The proposed circuit has been simulated using a standard 130-nm technology and shows a sensitivity of 1.3 mV/aF and a 20× reduction of the standard deviation of the differential output voltage as compared to the traditional solution.