Temperature compensation via power supply modification to produce a temperature-independent delay in an integrated circuit

A delay locked loop for an integrated circuit, comprising:

• a delay element for receiving an input clock and for producing at least one output clock delayed with respect to the input clock in accordance with at least one control signal;
• a phase detector for receiving the input clock and a representation of the one output clock and for producing the at least one control signal;
• a regulator for producing a power supply voltage for the delay element;
• and
• a temperature sensor for sensing temperature and providing temperature information to the regulator,
• wherein the temperature information is used by the regulator to scale the power supply voltage in proportion with the sensed temperature such that the power supply voltage is increased as the sensed temperature increases and such that the power supply voltage is decreased as the sensed temperature decreases.

A method for controlling a delay locked loop in an integrated circuit, comprising:

• sensing a temperature of the integrated circuit using a temperature sensor, wherein the temperature sensor receives a temperature-independent reference voltage as an input;
• and
• sending at least one signal indicating the sensed temperature to a regulator to set the value of a power supply voltage for a delay element in the delay locked loop,
• wherein setting the value of the power supply voltage comprises scaling the power supply voltage in proportion to the sensed temperature such that the power supply voltage is increased as the sensed temperature increases and such that the power supply voltage is decreased as the sensed temperature decreases.

An integrated circuit, comprising:

• a delay element powered by a power supply node;
• a regulator for providing a power supply voltage to the power supply node;
• and
• a temperature sensor for providing temperature information to the regulator,
• wherein the temperature information is used by the regulator to modify the power supply voltage,
• and wherein modifying the power supply voltage comprises scaling the power supply voltage in proportion to the sensed temperature such that the power supply voltage is increased as the sensed temperature increases and such that the power supply voltage is decreased as the sensed temperature decreases.

A method for controlling a delay element in an integrated circuit, comprising:

• sensing a temperature of the integrated circuit using a temperature sensor, wherein the temperature sensor receives a temperature-independent reference voltage as an input;
• and
• sending at least one signal indicating the sensed temperature to a regulator to set the value of a power supply voltage for the delay element,
• wherein the value of the power supply voltage is set to scale in proportion to the sensed temperature such that the power supply voltage is increased as the sensed temperature increases and such that the power supply voltage is decreased as the sensed temperature decreases.

A temperature sensor for an integrated circuit, comprising:

• at least one temperature sensitive element for producing a first analog voltage indicative of a sensed temperature;
• means for receiving at least the first analog voltage and for producing a plurality of digital signals indicative of one of a plurality of temperature ranges corresponding to the sensed temperature;
• and
• a regulator with a load for producing a second quantized analog voltage indicative of one of the temperature ranges, wherein the plurality of digital signals modify the load to set the second analog voltage,
• wherein the means for receiving further comprises a plurality of comparators, wherein the output of each of the comparators comprises one of the plurality of digital signals.

A method for generating a power supply voltage for an integrated circuit device, comprising:

• producing an analog signal indicative of the sensed temperature, wherein the analog signal indicative of the sensed temperature comprises a diode voltage;
• converting the analog signal to a plurality of digital signals, wherein the digital signals are indicative of a temperature range corresponding to the sensed temperature;
• and
• using the digital signals to produce a second quantized analog value also indicative of the temperature range,
• wherein the second quantized analog value comprises a power supply voltage for a subcircuit in the integrated circuit device, wherein the power supply voltage is increased as the sensed temperature increases, and wherein the power supply voltage is decreased as the sensed temperature decreases.

A method for sensing the temperature of an integrated circuit device, comprising:

• producing an analog signal indicative of the sensed temperature;
• converting the analog signal to a plurality of digital signals, wherein the digital signals are indicative of a temperature range corresponding to the sensed temperature;
• and
• using the digital signals to produce a quantized analog value also indicative of the temperature range,
• wherein converting the analog signal to a plurality of digital signals comprises the use of a plurality of comparators.