Effect of the read-out electronics on QCM-D measurements

This paper investigates the effect of read-out electronics on the current measurements of a Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). The study focuses on how the design of the front-end circuit, particularly parasitic capacitances and load resistance, influences the accuracy of the quartz current measurements. Current-based measurements are shown to be robust, with design choices being less critical than voltage-based ones. Experimental results support the theoretical analysis, providing guidelines for improving the reliability and accuracy of current-based QCM- D measurements, maintaining resonance frequency errors in the range of parts per million (ppm) and dissipation (time constant) errors in the range of 10-3 in different measurement conditions.