Apparatus for Sensing Temperature in Electronic Circuitry and Associated Methods
AssigneeSilicon Laboratories Inc.
InventorsMohamed M. Elsayed, Kenneth W. Fernald
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus includes a temperature measurement circuit. The temperature measurement circuit includes a bandgap circuit including an amplifier having an offset voltage that is compensated by using a set of trimming bits. The bandgap circuit provides first and second voltages related to a temperature to be measured. The temperature measurement circuit further includes a measuring circuit coupled to receive the first and second voltages. The measuring circuit further includes a comparator coupled to receive the first and second voltages, wherein the measuring circuit derives a temperature measurement from the first and second voltages.
Claims20
An apparatus, comprising:
- a temperature measurement circuit, comprising:
- a bandgap circuit including an amplifier having an offset voltage that is compensated by using a set of trimming bits, the bandgap circuit providing first and second voltages related to a temperature to be measured;
- and
- a measuring circuit coupled to receive the first and second voltages, the measuring circuit including a comparator coupled to receive the first and second voltages and to derive a temperature measurement from first and second voltages.
An integrated circuit (IC), comprising:
- a temperature measurement circuit, comprising:
- a bandgap circuit including an amplifier having an offset voltage, the bandgap circuit providing first and second voltages related to a temperature of the IC,
- wherein the bandgap circuit has first and second modes of operation, and
- wherein the offset voltage of the amplifier is compensated in the first mode of operation of the bandgap circuit.
A method of measuring a temperature, the method comprising:
- compensating an offset voltage of an amplifier by using a set of trimming bits;
- generating first and second voltages related to the temperature, by using a bandgap circuit;
- and
- using the first and second voltages to derive the temperature by generating count values corresponding to the first and second voltages.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.