The CAV414 is an universal multipurpose interface for capacitive sensors and contains the complete signal processing unit on chip. The CAV414 detects the relative capacitive change of a measuring capacity to a fixed reference capacity. The IC is optimised for capacities in the wide range of 10pF to 2nF with possible changes of capacity of 5% to 100% of the reference capacity. The voltage output is formed by a high accuracy instrumentation amplifier in combination with an operational amplifier. With only a few external components, the CAV414 is suitable for a great variety of applications including a zero compensation.