title: PSoC-based embedded design and quartz tuning fork for low-temperature measurement system design.
abstract: This article describes a commercial quartz tuning fork (QTF), 8 mm in height by 3 mm in diameter, holding a two-terminal electronic component with a nominal frequency of 32.768 kHz and 12.5 pF typical load capacitance packed in a vacuum-sealed metal container, which has been used as a sensor for low-temperature measurement with good sensitivity, repeatability, and reliability. An embedded readout design with the support of a programmable system on-chip (PSoC) and virtual instrument control program, which uses a personal computer as an input/output device, provides online data acquisition of the QTF frequency data, which will in turn provide the measurement of the low-temperature bath in which the QTF is immersed. The embedded PSoC readout captures the varying frequency signals from the QTF as a response to the measurement temperature, processes it, and sends the frequency value to a personal computer, where LabVIEW, a graphical language ("G" language), displays the data in a graphical format. The QTFs for low temperature (300 K to 77 K) are well studied, whereas a sensor using a PSoC embedded design as a readout is a novel design implementation.
authors.affiliation: Electronics & Instrumentation Section, Surface & Nano Science Division, Materials Science Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Tamil Nadu, India. jjpandian@gmail.com
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jayapandian
authors.forename: J Sakthi
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Swarrup
authors.forename: O K
authors.initials: OK
authors.lastname: Sheela
authors.forename: Usharani
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ravi