Compact, power efficient CMOS-based temperature sensor

The use of circuits for temperature monitoring that can be placed directly on a chip, such as a microprocessor, is increasing in popularity. However, technological advancements relating to multi-core architectures, tri-gate devices and low-voltage operation have created new requirements for the use of circuits for temperature monitoring. This technology describes a basic design employing two pairs of CMOS transistors configured as voltage reference circuits that can be used to measure temperature at low supply voltages. The temperature coefficient of the calculated output from these circuits can be configured to vary proportionally or inversely with the measured absolute temperature. Variations of this design enable the substrate area required by the technology to be balanced against its sensing accuracy as required by different applications.

Compact design is considerably smaller than currently available temperature sensorsRelatively insensitive to supply voltage scalingSuitable for low power scenarios that could not be reliably monitored using conventional BJT-based sensor technologyPatent Information:Patent Pending (US 20160265981) Tech Ventures Reference: IR CU14134

Managing operation of modern microprocessors that require temperature monitoring at multiple locationsTemperature monitoring in mobile devicesTemperature monitoring of medical patients using biochemically generated power

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