Integrated circuit temperature sensor with a reference voltage source pin
AssigneeMicrochip Touch Solutions Limited
InventorsAshfaq Alan Juna, Ezana Haile
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system, apparatus, and method for an integrated circuit (IC) temperature sensor having a reference voltage source pin is disclosed. The apparatus includes an integrated circuit temperature sensor including a sensing circuit; a reference voltage source to output a reference voltage; an operational amplifier coupled to the sensing circuit and the reference voltage source; an output voltage pin coupled to an output of the operational amplifier, the output voltage reflecting a difference between a voltage of the sensing circuit and the reference voltage; and a reference voltage source pin coupled to the reference voltage source.
Claims20
An apparatus, comprising:
- an integrated circuit temperature sensor package including:
- a sensing circuit;
- a reference voltage source to output a reference voltage;
- an operational amplifier coupled to the sensing circuit and the reference voltage source;
- an output voltage pin coupled to an output of the operational amplifier, the output voltage reflecting a difference between a voltage of the sensing circuit and the reference voltage;
- and
- a reference voltage source pin coupled to the reference voltage source;
- wherein the output voltage pin and the reference voltage source pin are configured to be accessible by a device external to the integrated circuit temperature sensor package.
A method comprising:
- measuring a reference voltage at a reference voltage pin of an integrated circuit temperature sensor package, the reference voltage pin accessible external to the integrated circuit temperature sensor package;
- measuring an output voltage at an output voltage pin of the integrated circuit temperature sensor package, the output voltage pin accessible external to the integrated circuit temperature sensor package;
- determining a difference between the output voltage and the reference voltage;
- and
- determining a temperature based on the difference between the output voltage and the reference voltage.
A system, comprising:
- an integrated circuit temperature sensor package including:
- a sensing circuit;
- a reference voltage source to output a reference voltage;
- an operational amplifier to output a voltage at an output voltage pin, the output voltage reflecting a difference between a voltage of the sensing circuit and the reference voltage;
- a reference voltage source pin coupled to the reference voltage source, wherein the output voltage pin and the reference voltage source pin are configured to be accessible by a device external to the integrated circuit temperature sensor package;
- and
- a control circuit to:
- measure the reference voltage at the reference voltage source pin of an integrated circuit temperature sensor;
- measure the output voltage at the output voltage pin of the integrated circuit temperature sensor;
- determine a difference between the output voltage and the reference voltage;
- and
- determine a temperature based on the difference between the output voltage and the reference voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.