A phase-domain readout circuit for a CMOS-compatible thermal-conductivity-based carbon dioxide sensor

The measurement of carbon-dioxide (CO2) concentration is very important in home and building automation, e.g. to control ventilation in energy-efficient buildings. This application requires compact, low-cost sensors that can measure CO2 concentration with a resolution of <200 ppm over a 2500ppm range. Conventional optical (NDIR-based) CO2 sensors require components that are CMOS-incompatible, difficult to miniaturize and power-hungry [1]. Due to their CMOS compatibility, thermal-conductivity-based sensors are an attractive alternative [2,3]. They exploit the fact that the thermal conductivity (TC) of CO2 is lower than that of the other constituents of air, so that CO2 concentration can be indirectly measured via the heat loss of a hot wire to ambient. However, this approach requires the detection of very small changes in TC (0.25 ppm per ppm CO2 [3]).