Patent ID: 7525304

Claim:
A method for determining an effective capacitance of a dielectric material, the method comprising the steps of: forming first and second asymmetrical electrodes entirely within a field of the dielectric material, where the first electrode, the second electrode, and the field of the dielectric material are co-planar, neither the first electrode nor the second electrode are either electrically connected to ground or to each other, applying a first charge Q on the first electrode, measuring a first voltage change V 1 on the first electrode, measuring a second voltage change V 2 on the second electrode, depositing a second charge Q′ on the second electrode, measuring a third voltage change V 3 on the first electrode, measuring a fourth voltage change V 4 on the second electrode, calculating a first ground capacitance C g1 by, C g1 =( V 2 Q′−V 4 Q )/( V 2 V 3 −V 1 V 4 ), calculating a second ground capacitance Cg2 by, C g2 =( V 3 Q−V 1 Q ′)/( V 2 V 3 −V 1 V 4 ), and calculating an inter-electrode capacitance C ie by, C ie =V 3 C g1 /( V 4 −V 3 )= V 2 C g2 /( V 1 −V 2 ).