Temperature-reporting oscillator
AssigneeSiTime Corporation
InventorsSassan Tabatabaei, Kamran Souri, Saleh Heidary Shalmany, Charles I. Grosjean
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Abstract
In an integrated circuit device having a microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) resonator and a temperature transducer, a clock signal is generated by sensing resonant mechanical motion of the MEMS resonator and a temperature signal indicative of temperature of the MEMS resonator is generated via the temperature transducer. The clock signal and the temperature signal are output from the integrated circuit device concurrently.
Claims30
An integrated circuit device comprising:
- a first microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) resonator and a second MEMS resonator;
- circuitry to generate a clock signal at least in part by sensing resonant mechanical motion of the first MEMS resonator;
- circuitry to generate a temperature signal indicative of temperature of the first MEMS resonator based at least in part on a temperature-dependent difference between frequencies of mechanically-resonant motion of the first MEMS resonator and the second MEMS resonator;
- and
- output circuitry to concurrently output the clock signal and the temperature signal from the integrated circuit device.
An integrated circuit device comprising:
- a microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) resonator;
- circuitry to generate a clock signal at least in part by sensing resonant mechanical motion of the MEMS resonator;
- circuitry to generate a temperature signal indicative of temperature of the MEMS resonator;
- and
- output circuitry to concurrently output the clock signal and the temperature signal from the integrated circuit device;
- wherein the output circuitry comprises a first signal driver to output the clock signal via a first pin of the integrated circuit device and a second signal driver to output the temperature signal via a second pin of the integrated circuit device, and wherein the integrated circuit device further comprises control circuitry to receive control information via the second pin of the integrated circuit device.
A method of operation within an integrated circuit device having a first microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) resonator, a second MEMS resonator, and circuitry to generate a temperature signal indicative of temperature of the first MEMS resonator, the method comprising:
- generating a clock signal at least in part by sensing resonant mechanical motion of the first MEMS resonator;
- generating, via the circuitry, a temperature signal indicative of temperature of the first MEMS resonator based at least in part on a temperature-dependent difference between frequencies of mechanically-resonant motion of the first MEMS resonator and the second MEMS resonator;
- and
- concurrently outputting the clock signal and the temperature signal from the integrated circuit device.
A method of operation within an integrated circuit device having a microelectromechanical-system (MEMS) resonator and circuitry to generate a temperature signal, the method comprising:
- generating a clock signal at least in part by sensing resonant mechanical motion of the MEMS resonator;
- generating, via the circuitry, a temperature signal indicative of temperature of the MEMS resonator;
- and
- concurrently outputting the clock signal and the temperature signal from the integrated circuit device;
- wherein outputting the clock signal and the temperature signal from the integrated circuit device comprises outputting the clock signal via a first pin of the integrated circuit device and outputting the temperature signal via a second pin of the integrated circuit device, the method further comprising receiving control information from a source external to the integrated circuit device via the second pin.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.