ENGR 200W - 01 , Litrature Review, 2017

Capacitance Measurement
Ashish Saurabh1 *

Abstract
There are many different types of capacitors with many different parameters; each is suited to a range of
applications. As operational frequency requirements increase, electronic systems downsize and power usage
becomes more critical, the most important parameters are quality factor (Q) and equivalent series resistance
(ESR). Measurement and characterization of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) for these parameters is
demanding, and with limited standardization of test methods, comparison of ranges or competitors is diffi-
cult.Vector network analyzer (VNA) is versatile measuring equipment which is primarily used for two-port device
S parameters measurements. This literature review addresses measurement of capacitor parameters using VNA
in broad frequency range. The main attention is focused on the measurement accuracy of capacitors parameters
using VNA and proper de-embedding of an experimental setup parasitics to get accurate results. Comparative
measurement error analysis for different measurement techniques is presented. Suitability of each measurement
technique for measurements of capacitor parameters using VNA is discussed and effect of the experimental
setup parasitics on the measurement results is addressed
Keywords
Capacitors— VNA — MLCC—Measurement—Measurement accuracy
1 DPGLIGHT Concept and Feasibility Team, Lam research India Pvt. Ltd.
*Correspondence: ashish.saurabh@lamresearch.com

Contents specific categories of capacitive sensors that require sophis-

ticated instrumentation based measurement systems is the
Introduction 1 measurement of low valued capacitances either in its individ-
1 Methods 2 ual capacity or in a differential form [6]- [7]. Very often these
capacitance measurements are to be carried out in the low
1.1 AC bridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
capacitance range and the sensitivity of the system is required
1.2 Charge/discharge methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 to be very high. The low capacitance measurements specially
1.3 Oscillation and resonance based methods . . . . .2 suffer from the problems of stray capacitances [9]. These
1.4 Relaxation based method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 stray capacitances mainly arise between the capacitance elec-
trodes and the earthed, shielding screen which is primarily
2 Auto balancing bridge(Impedance analyzer) 2
used to protect the capacitor electrodes from the influence of
2.1 Working principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 external electric fields. Another important source of errors
2.2 Cable configuration (Connection style . . . . . . . . 2 in low value capacitance measurement arises due to the pres-
3 Vector Network analyzer(VNA) 3 ence of lead capacitances which become comparable with the
original capacitance under measurement. The other primary
3.1 Measurement techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
important factors to be considered for low value capacitance
3.2 Comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 measurement are problems due to
4 Challenges[16] 4 1. Drift and offset errors
5 Mitigation 5 2. Ambient temperature errors
6 Conclusion 5
3. Maintenance of satisfactory level of sensitivity
4. Frequency of operation
References 6 5. Cost of development etc
Accurate measurement of capacitor parameters (includ-
Introduction ing parasitic ones) is of major importance when designing
EVELOPMENT of capacitive transducer systems have electronic equipment. For Capacitor and Inductor parameters
D been an important area of research for quite some time
now. Many of these capacitive transducers are employed for
measurements in broad frequency range usually impedance an-
alyzers are used [9]- [12]. However the impedance analyzers
measurement of physical quantities like motion, force, accel- are expensive and the measurement frequency range is usually
eration, torque, position and pressure [1]- [5]. One of the limited up to several hundreds of MHz [12] In contrast to the
 Capacitance Measurement — 2/7

1.2 Charge/discharge methods

The charge/discharge method essentially employs the method
of charging the unknown capacitance up to a certain voltage
level using a switch and then discharging that capacitor using
another switch. This differential circuit arrangement gained
popularity because it can reduce drifts caused by common
inputs and it is capable of providing good accuracy even for
high frequency operation in the range of MHz.
Figure 1. Capacitor Equivalent Circuit
1.3 Oscillation and resonance based methods
Defined by IEC/EN 60384-1
In oscillation methods RC or LC oscillators can be used to
provide a frequency as a function of the unknown capacitance
impedance analyzers, vector network analyzers (VNA) are and a frequency to voltage converter can be used to measure
less expensive, more versatile and can be used for capacitor the unknown capacitance[8] . Although these methods are quite
parameters measurements in much broader frequency range simple and accurate for medium capacitance measurement,
up to tens of GHz. they are not that efficient for low capacitance measurement as
they cannot eliminate the effect of stray capacitance in their
1. Methods measurement system.
The methods commonly employed for capacitance measure-
ment include methods 1.4 Relaxation based method
The resonance method can provide a good measurement alter-
1. Involving AC bridges native for capacitance as well as its parallel loss component
2. Charge/discharge methods but it is an elaborate method and not suitable for dynamic
3. Oscillation and resonance based methods capacitance measurements, especially in online measurement
(a) Square Wave scenario.
(b) Sine Wave Present-day electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) sys-
tems, are very often based on charge/discharge method which
4. Relaxation based method employs integrators. These integrators are main sources of
drift and offset errors which prove hazardous for such mea-
surement systems.

2. Auto balancing bridge(Impedance

analyzer)
There are many ways for performing the CV measurement,
but the most popular method in below 10 MHz frequency
range is the auto balancing bridge type CV meter as shown in
Figure 4.

2.1 Working principle

Figure 2. Schering bridge
1.1 AC bridges
One of the earliest forms of the AC Bridges was Schering
bridges. The later versions of the bridge circuits attempted
to improve upon the basic problem associated with bridge
circuits that they were not capable of providing sufficient
stray-immunity.
It measures the impedance of the device under test (DUT) Zx
as Zx = Vx / Ix , where Vx is the AC signal voltage applied to
the DUT, and Ix is the AC current lowing through the DUT.
A high gain amplifier automatically adjusts the gain level
so that the electric current flowing through the resistor R is
equal to the current flowing through the Capacitor.
2.2 Cable configuration (Connection style
There are common ways to connect capacitor for measure-
ment.
2.2.1 Four terminal pair (4TP) cable configuration
This is the best configuration for standalone setups.In many
cases, there is only one connecting pad for each measurement
terminal as shown in Figure 4.
 Capacitance Measurement — 3/7

Figure 3. Simplified auto balancing bridge block diagram.[16]

(1) AC signal source Vx , (2) DC bias source in the high terminal, (3) Current Ix flowing through the Device under test (DUT),
(4) Vector voltmeter

Figure 5. Shielded two terminal (S-2T) configuration.[16]

3. Vector Network analyzer(VNA)

Figure 4. Four terminal pair (4TP) configuration.[16]
2.2.2 Shielded two terminal (S-2T) configuration
In this method 4 terminals are reduced to 2 terminals ,similar
to the cabling for commonly used electrical test equipment as
shown in Figure 5. For the same reason S-2T configuration is
considered as the more practical solution.
For Capacitor and Inductor parameters measurements in broad
frequency range usually impedance analyzers (discussed ear-
lier) are used [9]- [12]. However the impedance analyzers are
expensive and the measurement frequency range is usually
limited up to several hundreds of MHz [12] In contrast to the
impedance analyzers, vector network analyzers (VNA) are
less expensive, more versatile and can be used for capacitor
parameters measurements in much broader frequency range
up to tens of GHz.
3.1 Measurement techniques
For two-terminal passive electronic components measure-
ments using VNA, three measurement techniques can be used
as shown in Figure 6-8 :
 Capacitance Measurement — 4/7

1. Reflection 3.2 Comparison

2. Shunt-through Measurement error of capacitors impedance and ESR depends
3. Series-through not only on capacitor impedance magnitude (and frequency)
but also on the measurement technique used. as can be seen
3.1.1 Reflection in Figure 9 and 10.
This method is based on reflection coefficient S11 measure- For C measurements it is better to use the shunt-through
ment.The capacitor is connected as shown in Figure 6.
technique when C>50nF[14] . However, when C<50nF[14] ,
then the series-through technique is the best choice for C mea-
surements. For capacitors with nominal capacitance of 1nF
and 10nF[14] , the lowest difference between C values mea-
sured using VNA and high-precision LCR meter is achieved
using the series-through technique
The best suited technique for capacitor ERS measurement
is the shunt-through technique, because measurement accu-
racy of capacitor impedance at ERF and in the vicinity of it is
very good (even below 1 percent[14] ) and this technique is less
sensitive to the experimental setup parasitic. For capacitor
impedance measurements in broad frequency range

Figure 6. Reflection[14] 1. when capacitor impedance can change from mΩ to kΩ)

3.1.2 Reflection
This method is based on transmission coefficient S21 measure-
ments.The capacitor is connected as shown in Figure 7.
it is better to use combination of the shunt-through and
series-through technique
2. when impedance is below several tens of ohms[14] , then
it is better to use shunt through technique

3. when Impedance is above several tens of ohms, then it

is better to use series-through technique. The reflection
technique should not be used for capacitor parameters
measurements because, firstly, it can give accurate re-
sults only when capacitor impedance slightly differs
from 50Ω [14] and secondly, it is very sensitive to un-
calibrated connectors parasitic.

4. Challenges[16]
Figure 7. Shunt-through[14]
Major challenges to make accurate measurement are:-

3.1.3 Reflection 1. Accuracy and correctness of connection made to DUT

This method is based on S21 measurements.The capacitor is
connected as shown in Figure 8.
2. Conductor’s inherent resistance is introduced into the
system

3. As frequency increases a Conductor’s dormant Induc-

tive behavior also increases

4. As the frequency increases a Insulator’s dormant Ca-

pacitive behavior also increases.

5. Insulator’s inherent resistance is introduced into the

Figure 8. Series-through[14] system

Figure 9. Calculated relative measurement errors of 100nF capacitor | Zc | (a) and ESR (b) versus frequency for all the three
measurement techniques.[14]
Figure 10. Calculated relative measurement errors of 1nF capacitor | Zc | (a) and ESR (b) versus frequency for all the three
measurement techniques.[14]
Figure 11. Necessary Evil in the measurement system[16]
5. Mitigation
The Challenges listed above can be mitigated by Compen-
sation or accurate De-Embedding. When the measurement
cables are extended using the S-2T configuration, the addi-
tional error sources by residual impedance, stray admittance
and other factors relating the cable length and the measure-
ment frequency are added as shown in Figure 11. With these
additional error sources between the DUT and the C meter,
the measured impedance Zm becomes different from the ac-
Capacitance Measurement — 5/7
tual DUT impedance Zdut (Zm = Zdut + additional errors
6= Zdut)[16] . These additional errors by adding the extended
cables can be reduced by performing the error compensations.
The following steps compensation are needed to get desired
accuracy as shown in FIgure 12:-
1. Open compensation / calibration
2. Short compensation / calibration
3. Load compensation / calibration
6. Conclusion
Vector network analyzers can be very useful for accurate ca-
pacitor impedance, resonant frequency, capacitance and ESL
measurements in broad frequency range if proper measure-
ment technique and de-embedding is used. Measurement
accuracy of several order and even lower can be achieved

Figure 12. Example of the Open/Short and Load compensation.
using proper measurement technique. Its is also evident that
an accurate result is highly dependent on the magnitude of
the capacitance and method adopted for the measurements.
It can be concluded that VNA can substitute more expensive
Impedance analyzers for accurate Capacitance measurements
in broad frequency range with some limitations in terms of
ESR measurements. But for holistic and accurate measure-
ments Impedance measurement is more suitable since it pro-
vides more information about the Electrical equivalence of a
Capacitor.
References
[1] M. Yamada, T. Takebayashi, S. Notoyama, and K. Watan-
abe, “A switched-capacitor interface for capacitive pres-
sure transducer,”, ,IEEE Tran. Instrumentation and Mea-
surement, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 81-86, February 1992.
[2] F. N. Toth and G. C. M. Meijer, “A low-cost, smart ca-
pacitive position sensor,” IEEE Tran. Instrumentation and
Measurement, vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 1041-1044, December
1992.
[3] Y. C. Chung, N. N. Amarnath, and C. M. Furse, “Ca-
pacitance and inductance sensor circuits for detecting the
lengths of open- and shortcircuited wires,” IEEE Tran. In-
strumentation and Measurement, vol. 58, no. 8, pp. 2495-
2502, August 2009.
[4] J. C. Lotters, W. Olthuis, and P. Bergveld, “A sensitive
differential capacitance to voltage converter for sensor ap-
plications,” IEEE Tran. Instrumentation and Measurement,
vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 89-96, February 1999.
[5] A. L. Hugill, “Displacement transducers based on reactive
sensors in transformer ratio bridge circuits,” Journal of
Physics E: Sci. Instrm. vol. 15, pp. 597-606, 1982.
Capacitance Measurement — 6/7
[6] D. Mariolo, E. Sardani, and A. Taroni, “Measurement of
small capacitance variation,” IEEE Tran. Instrumentation
and Measurement, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 426-428, April 1991.
[7] D. M. G. Preethichandra and K. Shida, “A simple inter-
face circuit to measure very small capacitance changes
in capacitance sensors,” IEEE Tran. Instrumentation and
Measurement, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 1583-1586, December
2001.
[8] S. M. Huang, A. L. Stott, R. G. Green and M. S. Beck,
“Electronic transducers for industrial measurement of low
value capacitances,” Journal of Physics E: Sci. and In-
strum., vol. 21, pp. 242-250, 1988.
[9] R. Dosoudil, Determination of permeability from
”
impedance measurement using vector network analyzer,”
Journal of electrical engineering, vol. 63, No.7, pp. 97-101,
Oct. 2012
[10] Satish Prabhakaran, Charles Sullivan, ”Impedance-
analyzer measurements of high-frequency power passives:
Techniques for high power and low impedance,” In proc.
IEEE Industry Applications Conference, Pittsburgh, PA,
USA, 2002, pp. 1360 – 1367.
[11] William B. Kuhn, Adam P. Boutz, ”Measuring and report-
ing high quality factors of inductors using vector network
analyzers,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and
Techniques, vol.58, No.4, pp. 1046-1055, Apr. 2010
Ad
[12] vanced Impedance Measurement Capability of the RF
I-V Method Compared to the Network Analysis Method.
Agilent Application Note No. 1369-2.
[13] Ultra Low Impedance Measurements Using 2-Port Mea-
surements. Agilent Application Note, 2004.
 Capacitance Measurement — 7/7

[14] Deniss Stepins, Gundars Asmanis, and Aivis Asmanis

”Measuring Capacitor Parameters Using Vector Network
Analyzers” ELECTRONICS, VOL. 18, NO. 1, JUNE 2014
Gautam Sarkar, Anjan Rakshit, Amitava Chatterjee, Kesab
Bhattacharya ”Low Value Capacitance Measurement Sys-
tem with
[15] Adjustable Lead Capacitance Compensation”World
Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology Vol:7,
No:1, 2013
[16] Keysight Technologies Application Note,Capacitance
Measurement Basics for Device/ Material Characterization