A 4600μm2 1.5°C (3σ) 0.9kS/s Thermal-Diffusivity Temperature Sensor with VCO-Based Readout

📋 论文概要

该论文提出了一种基于热扩散率（TD）的温度传感器，通过VCO读出电路数字化电热滤波器中的热脉冲延迟，实现了小面积（4600μm²）、中等精度（1.5°C 3σ）和0.9kS/s的采样率，适用于微处理器片上温度监控。

💡 主要创新点

• 采用热扩散率原理实现温度传感，利用VCO读出电路直接数字化温度相关延迟，简化了读出架构。
• 在极小的芯片面积（4600μm²）内实现了完整的温度传感功能，有利于片上集成和布局。
• 通过电热滤波器（ETF）产生热脉冲，利用热扩散延迟的温度依赖性，无需高精度参考或复杂校准。

🏷 关键词

📄 原文摘要

Temperature sensors are widely used in microprocessors to monitor on-chip temperature gradients and hot-spots, which are known to negatively impact reliability [1-4]. Such sensors should be: 1) Small to facilitate floor planning; 2) Fast to track millisecond thermal transients and 3) Easy to trim to reduce the associated costs. Recently, it has been shown that thermal diffusivity (TD) sensors can meet these requirements [5]. TD sensors operate by digitizing the temperature-dependent delay associated with the diffusion of heat pulses through an electro-thermal filter (ETF), which, in standard CMOS, can be readily implemented as a resistive heater surrounded by a thermopile. Unlike BJT-based temperature sensors, their accuracy actually improves with CMOS scaling [6], since it is mainly limited by the accuracy of the heater/thermopile spacing, which in turn is determined by lithography. However, the readout circuitry of prior TD

👥 作者与机构

Rui Quan, Ugur Sonmez, Fabio Sebastiano, Kofi A. A. Makinwa

Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands