Capacitor-based temperature-sensing device
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorShih-Lien Linus LU
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Abstract
A temperature-sensing device configured to monitor a temperature is disclosed. The temperature-sensing device includes: a first capacitor comprising a first oxide layer with a first thickness; a second capacitor comprising a second oxide layer with a second thickness, wherein the second thickness of the second oxide layer is different from the first thickness of the first oxide layer; and a control logic circuit, coupled to the first and second capacitors, and configured to determine whether the monitored temperature is equal to or greater than a threshold temperature based of whether at least one of the first and second oxide layers breaks down.
Claims20
A temperature-sensing device configured to monitor a temperature, comprising:
- a first capacitor comprising a first oxide layer with a first thickness;
- a second capacitor comprising a second oxide layer with a second thickness, wherein the second thickness of the second oxide layer is different from the first thickness of the first oxide layer;
- and
- a control logic circuit, coupled to the first and second capacitors, and configured to determine whether the monitored temperature is equal to or greater than a threshold temperature based on whether at least one of the first and second oxide layers breaks down.
A temperature-sensing device, comprising:
- a first capacitor comprising a first oxide layer with a first thickness;
- a second capacitor comprising a second oxide layer with a second thickness, wherein the second thickness is different from the first thickness causing the first and second oxide layers to have respective different breakdown temperatures;
- and
- a control logic circuit, coupled to the first and second capacitors, and configured to estimate a temperature based on whether the temperature has become not lower than one of the breakdown temperatures of the first and second oxide layers.
A method, comprising:
- providing a plurality of capacitors, wherein each of the plurality of capacitors comprises a respective oxide layer with a respective thickness that is associated with a respective breakdown temperature;
- applying a common voltage to the plurality of capacitors to cause respective currents to flow through the plurality of capacitors;
- in response to a varying environmental temperature, comparing each of the respective currents with a reference current so as to provide a respective logic state based on the respective breakdown temperature;
- and
- determining the environmental temperature using the respective logic state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.