A switched capacitor (SC) is an
electronic circuit
An electronic circuit is composed of individual electronic components, such as resistors, transistors, capacitors, inductors and diodes, connected by conductive wires or traces through which electric current can flow. It is a type of electri ...
that implements a
function by moving
charges
Charge or charged may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* '' Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary
Music
* ''Charge'' (David Ford album)
* ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album)
* ''Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...
into and out of
capacitor
A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy in an electric field by virtue of accumulating electric charges on two close surfaces insulated from each other. It is a passive electronic component with two terminals.
The effect of a ...
s when
electronic switches are opened and closed. Usually, non-overlapping
clock signals are used to control the switches, so that not all switches are closed simultaneously.
Filters implemented with these elements are termed ''switched-capacitor filters'', which depend only on the ratios between capacitances and the switching frequency, and not on precise
resistors. This makes them much more suitable for use within
integrated circuits, where accurately specified resistors and capacitors are not economical to construct.
SC circuits are typically implemented using
metal–oxide–semiconductor
The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which d ...
(MOS) technology, with
MOS capacitor
The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the controlled oxidation of silicon. It has an insulated gate, the voltage of which d ...
s and
MOS field-effect transistor (MOSFET) switches, and they are commonly
fabricated using the
complementary MOS (CMOS) process. Common applications of MOS SC circuits include
mixed-signal integrated circuit
A mixed-signal integrated circuit is any integrated circuit that has both analog circuits and digital circuits on a single semiconductor die.[digital-to-analog converter
In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC, D/A, D2A, or D-to-A) is a system that converts a digital signal into an analog signal. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) performs the reverse function.
There are several DAC archi ...]
(DAC) chips,
analog-to-digital converter
In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, A/D, or A-to-D) is a system that converts an analog signal, such as a sound picked up by a microphone or light entering a digital camera, into a digital signal. An ADC may also provide ...
(ADC) chips,
pulse-code modulation
Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the a ...
(PCM) codec-filters, and PCM
digital telephony
Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is i ...
.
Parallel resistor simulation using a switched-capacitor
The simplest switched-capacitor (SC) circuit is made of one capacitor
and two switches S and S which alternatively connect the capacitor to either in or out at a switching frequency of
.
Recall that
Ohm's law
Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the voltage across the two points. Introducing the constant of proportionality, the resistance, one arrives at the usual mathematical equatio ...
can express the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance as:
:
The following equivalent resistance calculation will show how during each switching cycle, this switched-capacitor circuit transfers an amount of charge from in to out such that it behaves according to a similar
linear
Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...
current–voltage relationship with
Equivalent resistance calculation
By definition, the charge
on any capacitor
with a voltage
between its plates is:
:
Therefore, when S is closed while S is open, the charge stored in the capacitor
will be:
:
assuming
is an
ideal voltage source
A voltage source is a two-terminal device which can maintain a fixed voltage. An ideal voltage source can maintain the fixed voltage independent of the load resistance or the output current. However, a real-world voltage source cannot supply unli ...
.
When S is closed (S is open - they are never both closed at the same time), some of that charge is transferred out of the capacitor. Exactly how much charge gets transferred can't be determined without knowing what load is attached to the output. However, by definition, the charge remaining on capacitor
can be expressed in terms of the unknown variable
:
:
Thus, the charge transferred from in to out during one switching cycle is:
:
This charge is transferred at a rate of
. So the average
electric current
An electric current is a stream of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. It is measured as the net rate of flow of electric charge through a surface or into a control volume. The movin ...
(rate of transfer of charge per unit time) from in to out is:
:
The voltage difference from in to out can be written as:
:
Finally, the current–voltage relationship from in to out can be expressed with the same form as Ohm's law, to show that this switched-capacitor circuit simulates a resistor with an equivalent resistance of:
:
:
This circuit is called a ''parallel resistor simulation'' because in and out are connected in parallel and not directly coupled. Other types of SC simulated resistor circuits are ''bilinear resistor simulation'', ''series resistor simulation'', ''series-parallel resistor simulation'', and ''parasitic-insensitive resistor simulation''.
Difference with real resistor
Charge is transferred from in to out as discrete pulses, not continuously. This transfer approximates the equivalent continuous transfer of charge of a resistor when the switching frequency is sufficiently higher (≥100x) than the
bandlimit of the input
signal
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The '' IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing' ...
.
The SC circuit modeled here using ideal switches with zero resistance does not suffer from the
ohmic heating energy loss of a regular resistor, and so ideally could be called a
loss free resistor
A loss free resistor (LFR) is a resistor that does not lose energy. The first implementation was due to SingerSinger, S, "Realization of Loss Free Resistive Elements", ''IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems'', Vol. CAS-37, No. 1, pp. 54-60, J ...
. However real switches have some small resistance in their channel or
p–n junctions, so power is still dissipated.
Because the resistance inside electric switches is typically much smaller than the resistances in circuits relying on regular resistors, SC circuits can have substantially lower
Johnson–Nyquist noise
Johnson–Nyquist noise (thermal noise, Johnson noise, or Nyquist noise) is the electronic noise generated by the thermal agitation of the charge carriers (usually the electrons) inside an electrical conductor at equilibrium, which happens rega ...
. However
harmonics
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the '' fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', ...
of the switching frequency may be manifested as high frequency
noise
Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference aris ...
that may need to be attenuated with a
low-pass filter
A low-pass filter is a filter that passes signals with a frequency lower than a selected cutoff frequency and attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The exact frequency response of the filter depends on the filt ...
.
SC simulated resistors also have the benefit that their equivalent resistance can be adjusted by changing the switching frequency (i.e., it is a programmable resistance) with a resolution limited by the resolution of the switching period. Thus ''online'' or ''runtime'' adjustment can be done by controlling the oscillation of the switches (e.g. using an configurable clock output signal from a
microcontroller
A microcontroller (MCU for ''microcontroller unit'', often also MC, UC, or μC) is a small computer on a single VLSI integrated circuit (IC) chip. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs ( processor cores) along with memory and programma ...
).
Applications
SC simulated resistors are used as a replacement for real resistors in
integrated circuits because it is easier to fabricate reliably with a wide range of values and can take up much less silicon area.
This same circuit can be used in
discrete time systems (such as ADCs) as a
sample and hold circuit
In electronics, a sample and hold (also known as sample and follow) circuit is an analog device that samples (captures, takes) the voltage of a continuously varying analog signal and holds (locks, freezes) its value at a constant level for ...
. During the appropriate clock phase, the capacitor samples the analog voltage through switch S
1 and in the second phase presents this held sampled value through switch S
2 to an electronic circuit for processing.
Filters
Electronic filters
Electronic filters are a type of signal processing filter in the form of electrical circuits. This article covers those filters consisting of lumped electronic components, as opposed to distributed-element filters. That is, using component ...
consisting of resistors and capacitors can have their resistors replaced with equivalent switched-capacitor simulated resistors, allowing the filter to be manufactured using only switches and capacitors without relying on real resistors.
The parasitic-sensitive integrator
Switched-capacitor simulated resistors can replace the input resistor in an
op amp integrator to provide accurate voltage gain and integration.
One of the earliest of these circuits is the parasitic-sensitive integrator developed by the Czech engineer Bedrich Hosticka.
Analysis
Denote by
the switching period. In capacitors,
:
Then, when S
1 opens and S
2 closes (they are never both closed at the same time), we have the following:
1) Because
has just charged:
:
2) Because the feedback cap,
, is suddenly charged with that much charge (by the op amp, which seeks a virtual short circuit between its inputs):
:
Now dividing 2) by
:
:
And inserting 1):
:
This last equation represents what is going on in
- it increases (or decreases) its voltage each cycle according to the charge that is being "pumped" from
(due to the op-amp).
However, there is a more elegant way to formulate this fact if
is very short. Let us introduce
and
and rewrite the last equation divided by dt:
:
Therefore, the op-amp output voltage takes the form:
:
This is the same formula as the op amp
inverting integrator where the resistance is replaced by a SC simulated resistor with an equivalent resistance of:
:
This switched-capacitor circuit is called "parasitic-sensitive" because its behavior is significantly affected by
parasitic capacitances, which will cause errors when parasitic capacitances can't be controlled. "Parasitic insensitive" circuits try to overcome this.
The parasitic insensitive integrator
Use in discrete-time systems
The delaying parasitic insensitive integrator has a wide use in discrete time electronic circuits such as
biquad filters, anti-alias structures, and
delta-sigma data converters. This circuit implements the following z-domain function:
:
The multiplying digital to analog converter
One useful characteristic of switched-capacitor circuits is that they can be used to perform many circuit tasks at the same time, which is difficult with non-discrete time components (i.e. analog electronics). The multiplying digital to analog converter (MDAC) is an example as it can take an analog input, add a digital value
to it, and multiply this by some factor based on the capacitor ratios. The output of the MDAC is given by the following:
:
The MDAC is a common component in modern pipeline analog to digital converters as well as other precision analog electronics and was first created in the form above by Stephen Lewis and others at Bell Laboratories.
Analysis of switched-capacitor circuits
Switched-capacitor circuits are analysed by writing down charge conservation equations, as in this article, and solving them with a computer algebra tool. For hand analysis and for getting more insight into the circuits, it is also possible to do a
Signal-flow graph
A signal-flow graph or signal-flowgraph (SFG), invented by Claude Shannon, but often called a Mason graph after Samuel Jefferson Mason who coined the term, is a specialized Flow graph (mathematics), flow graph, a directed graph in which nodes repr ...
analysis, with a method that is very similar for switched-capacitor and continuous-time circuits.
[H. Schmid and A. Huber, "Analysis of switched-capacitor circuits using driving-point signal-flow graphs", Analog Integr Circ Sig Process (2018)]
''https://doi.org/10.1007/s10470-018-1131-7''
See also
*
Aliasing
In signal processing and related disciplines, aliasing is an effect that causes different signals to become indistinguishable (or ''aliases'' of one another) when sampled. It also often refers to the distortion or artifact that results when ...
*
Charge pump
A charge pump is a kind of DC-to-DC converter that uses capacitors for energetic charge storage to raise or lower voltage. Charge-pump circuits are capable of high efficiencies, sometimes as high as 90–95%, while being electrically simple c ...
*
Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem
*
Switched-mode power supply
A switched-mode power supply (switching-mode power supply, switch-mode power supply, switched power supply, SMPS, or switcher) is an electronic power supply that incorporates a switching regulator to convert electrical power efficiently.
Like ...
*
Thyristor-switched capacitor (TSC)
References
*Mingliang Liu, ''Demystifying Switched-Capacitor Circuits'',
{{DEFAULTSORT:Switched Capacitor
Capacitors
Electronic filter applications
Electronic filter topology
MOSFETs
Voltage regulation