On-chip temperature sensor
AssigneeAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc.
InventorsGolam R. Chowdhury, Arjang Hassibi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining a temperature of a semiconductor device is provided herein. One aspect of the disclosed subject matter is seen in a temperature sensing device. The temperature sensing device comprises a diode and a circuit. The diode is adapted to be reverse biased by a charging voltage applied thereto. The circuit determines a temperature of the diode based on a rate that the voltage on the diode discharges in response to the charging voltage being uncoupled from the diode.
Claims14
A temperature sensing device, comprising
- a diode adapted to be selectively reverse biased by a charging voltage;
- and
- a circuit adapted to determine a temperature of the diode based on a rate that a voltage on the diode discharges in response to a decoupling of the charging voltage from the diode, wherein the circuit further comprises being adapted to determine the temperature of the diode based on a period of time related to a time elapsed between the charging voltage being decoupled from the diode and a time at which the voltage on the diode reaches a preselected reference voltage.
A temperature sensing device, comprising
- a diode adapted to be selectively reverse biased by a charging voltage;
- a circuit adapted to determine a temperature of the diode based on a rate that a voltage on the diode discharges in response to a decoupling of the charging voltage from the diode, and a curvature calibration circuit adapted to correct for at least one non-linearity in a relationship between the determined discharge rate and the temperature of the diode.
A method for sensing temperature,
- comprising:
- uncoupling a charging voltage from a diode to discharge the diode;
- determining a rate at which the diode discharges in response to uncoupling the charging voltage;
- and
- determining a temperature of the diode based on the discharge rate, wherein determining a temperature of the diode based on the discharge rate further comprises determining the temperature of the diode based on a period of time related to a time elapsed between the charging voltage being uncoupled from the diode and a time at which the voltage on the diode reaches a preselected reference voltage.
A method for sensing temperature,
- comprising:
- uncoupling a charging voltage from a diode to discharge the diode;
- determining a rate at which the diode discharges in response to uncoupling the charging voltage;
- and
- determining a temperature of the diode based on the discharge rate, wherein determining a rate at which the diode discharges further comprises determining the period of time for the voltage on the diode to reach a reference voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.