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Integratedtemperaturesensorwithdigitaloutputfor
SoCpowermanagement
InthispaperanovelcompactCMOStemperaturesensorwithbuiltinanaloguetodigital
conversionandcalibrationispresented.IthasbeenimplementedinST's90nmand65
nmprocessesandispartofST'slowpowerplatformstrategytooptimizeSoCpower
consumptionandperformance.

Thispaperappearsin:Design&TechnologyofIntegratedSystemsinNanoscaleEra,2007.DTIS.
InternationalConferenceon,IssueDate:25Sept.2007,Writtenby:Vogt,LionelChara,Youness
Ouannani,HichamNazih,Maria
2007IEEE

SECTIONI.

INTRODUCTION
IntheNanometerera,SystemonChippowerdissipationhasincreaseddramaticallywiththeabilitytointegratemoreprocessingpower.Thetemperature
dependantbehaviorofdigitalcircuitshasalsobecomemorecomplextomanagewiththesharpincreaseofleakagecurrentsandtheapparitionof
temperatureinversion.
Therefore,monitoringtheinternaljunctiontemperatureismandatory,firstlytomaintaincircuitswithinsafeoperatingrange,secondlytooptimizetheir
performance.
Managingthedynamicpowerconsumption,leakageandoperatingspeedofacomplexSoCbyadaptingtheactivity,frequencyandsupplyaccordingto
certainindicators,suchasinternaljunctiontemperaturehasbeenpresentedin[1].
ImportanttemperaturegradientscanalsobeobservedacrossaSoCdependingoftheactivityofitssubsystems,givingrisetotheneedforlowareasensors
whichcanbedistributedconveniently.
IntegratedCMOStemperaturesensorshavethereforeemergedasacrucialenablingIPforsystemlevellowpowerandperformanceoptimization.
Wepresentanoriginaltemperaturesensorofferingthefollowingfeatures:compactarchitectureandcircuitarea,robustnessforintegrationinadigital
environment,embeddedanaloguetodigitalconversionandcalibration.

SECTIONII.

PRINCIPLESOFTEMPERATURE
SENSORS
Manyimplementationsoftemperaturesensorshavebeenreported,relyingonthewellknowntemperaturedependencyofbipolardevices,availableas
substratePNPsinaCMOSprocess.

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II.1.ProportionaltoAbsoluteTemperature(PTAT)source

Figure1:PTATvoltagesource.

Agoodapproximationofthebipolartransistorcollectorcurrentinthemediumlevelinjectionis:
qV

Ic = Is (e

qV

BE

KT

1) Is e

BE

(1)

KT

ViewSource

ButforPNPbipolarinCMOStechnology,onlytheemittercurrentisaccessible.
AsIeisrelatedtoIcbyforwardcurrentgain ,wecanwrite
1
Ie = Ic (1 +

qV

1
) = (1 +

) Is e

BE

(2)

KT

ViewSource

Forlargevaluesof, I canbeapproximatedby I ,andthedifferenceofthebaseemittervoltagesVptat(T)becomes

e

kT
V P T AT (T ) =

ln (m. n) = P T AT T

(3)

ViewSource

wherekisBoltzmann'sconstant,q istheelectroncharge,mistheratioofthebiascurrentsofQlandQ2andn istheratiooftheiremitterareas[3].

ThePTATvoltagetemperaturecoefficientinequation(3)isindependentfromprocessparameters.
ForCMOSsubstratePNPshowever,thegain islowandvarieswithcurrentdensityandtemperature.
PTAT

canberewrittenas:
k
P T AT

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(ln(m. n) + ln (

=
q

1 + 1/2

))

(4)

1 + 1/1

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ViewSource

Thiswillcauseaprocessandtemperaturedependenterror,thissensitivityto canbereducedbyincreasingm.n.

II2VBE&BandgapVoltagegeneration
Bandgapvoltagereferencesarebasedontheadditionoftwovoltagesourceswithoppositetemperaturecoefficient.TheVBEofbipolardevicesbiasedbya
PTATcurrent[3]is:
V BE (T ) = V BE0 P T AT T c(T )

(5)

ViewSource

VBEisessentiallyavoltagewithatemperaturecoefficientaround2mV/Kandatemperaturedependantcurvaturetermdescribedbyc(T).
Onemayobtainatemperatureindependentvoltagesource,bysummingtheVBEvoltageandaPTATsourceinordertocancelouttheirtemperature
coefficientsaroundacentervalue,bychoosingappropriatelyin(6).
V REF (T ) = V BE0 + V P T AT

(6)

ViewSource

Thecurvaturetermremains,techniquesexisttocorrectitbutitwillnotbenecessaryinourapplication.
Suchareferenceisrelatedtothesiliconbandgapvoltage,henceisanabsolutereferencewithgoodaccuracy.

II2TemperatureSensorswithaccurateA/Dconversion
SinceitispossibletogeneratePTATvoltageandabsolutereferencewithproventechniques,itisnaturaltoconverttemperaturetoadigitalvaluebyfeeding
aPTATinputtoanADCreferencedtoabandgapvoltage[2].
Unfortunately,sinceVPTATexhibitsaslopeintheorderof0.2mV/K,ahighprecisionamplificationisrequiredpriortoA/Dconversion,employing
sophisticatednoiseandoffsetreductiontechniquessuchasswitchedcapacitorintegratingchopperamplifier,whichareofutmostelegancebutcostly.
Analternativearchitecturehasbeenproposedin[3]and[4],smartlyavoidingtoamplifyVbeandVrefseparately,butintegratingthedifferenceina
sigmadeltaloopwhichnullsitsaverage,showninthefollowingdiagram.

Figure2:Simplifiedsensorpresentedin[3]and[4]

Solvingfortheaveragevalueofthebitstreamyields
V be
x =

N
=

V be + V be

(7)
D

ViewSource

Appropriatevaluesforand makeDtemperatureindependent,thusxisalinearrepresentationoftemperature.TheoptimumisactuallytogiveDa
positiveTCtoeliminatecurvatureerrorinthedigitaloutput[4]
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Unfortunately,firstorderSigmaDeltamodulatorsprocessingDCsignalssufferfromlimitationssuchaslimitcycles,whichleadtheauthorstoemploya
secondorderloopwitharesetsystemandcomplexdigitalfiltering.Althoughextremelyaccuratethisarchitectureistooareaandpowerconsumingforus.
AcontinuoustimesigmadeltaADCalsoofferslittleflexibilitywithregardstoclockfrequency.
However,thekeyadvantageistoprocessthedifferenceofPTATandVBEsource,actuallyintheformofcurrents.

SECTIONIII.

ProposedThermalSensor
Architecture
Weproposeanarchitecturemergingtheanalogreference,PTATsourceandanalogtodigitalconversion,toobtainacompactandrobustsensor.
Theconversionalgorithmprocessesanerrorsignalminimizedbyasuccessiveapproximationloop,similarlytoaSARADC.
Thearchitecturedescribedhereaftermakesuseofbothvoltageandcurrentsignals.

Figure3:Proposedtemperaturesensorstructure

ABandgapreferencecircuitprovidestwooutputs:
AstablevoltagereferenceVbg
APTATcurrent,

Iptat = G Vptat(T) = G Vbe

(8)

ViewSource

AD/Aconverterisdesignedtosinkacurrentequalto:
C
I DA =

I DAF S + I DA0

(9)

ViewSource

whereNisthenumberofbits,Ctheinputcode,I DA

FS

thefullscaleswingandI DA thevaluewhenC=0.
0

Thezerolevel,fullscalevaluesoftheD/AarefixedbyVbgandresistorsmatchedtotheonesdeterminingthetransconductanceGin(4).
TheopampAforcesVp=Vbg,whilealsoproducinganerrorsignal

Verror = Ve Vp = Rf b Ie = Rf b (IDA Iptat)

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ViewSource

ThecomparatorsensesthesignofVeandsendsalogicoutputcmptothestatemachine
Thelatter,withasimpleiterativealgorithm,adjuststhedigitalcodeCtoobtainVeasclosetozeroaspossible,whichtranslatesintothefollowing
condition:
G Vbe IDA = 0.

(11)

ViewSource

Fromtheaboveequationwecanderive:
N

C = (2

1)

G V be I DA0

(12)

I DAF S

ViewSource

SinceV be isproportionaltoabsolutetemperatureandbothI DA andI DA arederivedfromatemperatureindependentreference,Cisalinear

digitalrepresentationoftemperature.Wecansimplyderivehowtochoosetheabovevaluesaccordingtothedesiredtemperaturerange.
0

FS

Letusnote T and T theminimumandmaximumtemperaturesofoperationrespectively,correspondingtothecodesC=0andC

0

Letusnote:G V be

= (2

1)

= B T

With(11)wefindhowtofixtheD/Arange:
I DA0 = B T 0

(13)

I DAF S = B (T 1 T 0 )

(14)

ViewSource

and

ViewSource

Substitutionin(12)showsthat
N

C = (2

(T T 0 )
1)

(15)
(T 1 T 0 )

ViewSource

Atrivialexampleistochose T

= 273K = 0 C, T 1 = 400K = 127 C, N = 7

,CisthentheintegervalueofTCelcius.

SECTIONIV.

Circuitimplementation
Theabovearchitecturecanbeimplementedsimply:

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Figure4:Circuitlevelimplementation

ThebuildingblockscorrespondingtoFigure3arehighlightedbythedottedboxes.
TheBandgapreferenceproducesavoltageoutput(nominally1.21V)andaPTATcurrent.
TheD/AconvertercanbeimplementedasasimpleR2Rladder(R=2*r),thankstoamplifierA,forcingVp=VbthusallowingtheR2Rladdertooperate
correctly.
TheuseofasimplepassiveD/Aeliminatestheneedforanadditionalvoltage/currentreferencecircuitandhighoutputimpedancecurrentsourceD/A
converterwhichwouldcausereplicationerrorsandextracircuitcomplexity.
AnothersubtledifferencewiththebasicblockdiagramisthattheD/Aoutputisadifferentialcurrent,IDNIDP.
Thankfully,theamplifierintheBandgaploopforcesnodeVbtobestable,bycontrollingVg,thegateofthematchedcurrentsourcesIo&I1.Doingso,the
IDPcurrentoutputaddstoIptatinthesourceIo,copiedintoI1,thensubtractedtoIDNatnodeVp,therebyperformingdifferentialtosingleended
conversionattheD/Aoutputbymeansofthisbuiltinactivecurrentmirror.
Accordingtofigure4thePTATvoltagedevelopsacross R ,andtheassociatedcurrentsumswith I
followstheequation:
0

IP T AT

R2

= IR1 + IR2 =

V BE

(1 +

R0

R1
R2

intothe I source,thereforethePTAToutputcurrent
0

) = G V BE

(16)

ViewSource

TheD/Afollowstheequations:

IDP =

2V REF

i=N 1

iN

bi 2

+ 2

(17)

i=0

ViewSource

SincethetotalcurrentthroughtheR2Rladderisconstant,fixedbyVref=VbandR,RTo:
2
IDP + IDN = V REF (

1
)

+
R

(18)

RT 0

ViewSource

TheD/Aoutputsformaxandmincodesaretherefore:
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) = I DAC (1) = (

(1) +

(1)) 2

(1)

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Iptat (T 1 ) = I DAC (1) = (IDN (1) + IDP (1)) 2IDP (1)
2
= V REF [(

2N

2
)

+
R

RT 0

(19)

ViewSource

and
Iptat (T 0 ) = I DAC (0) = (IDN (0) + IDP (0)) 2IDP (1)
2
= V REF [(

4
)

+
R

RT 0

(20)

ViewSource

Thus
I DAF S = I DAC (1) I DAC (0) =
1
I DA0 = V REF [

4V REF

(1 2

(21)

2
]

RT 0

(22)

ViewSource

Theaboveresultsallowtodetermineappropriatevaluesfortheresistorstoobtainthedesiredtemperaturerange.

SECTIONV.

ERRORSOURCESANDACCURACY
Theaccuracyofthemeasuredtemperatureisaffectedbyerrorson I
and V
generationandonmeasurementpart(ADC).Theseerrorsaredueto
mismatchandprocessdispersion.ThereimpactcanbemodeledbyoffseterrorandslopeerrorofthecurveC[0 : n 1] = F(T) in(figure5).
PTAT

REF

V.1Mismatcherrors
Mismatcherrorscanaffectseveralcomponentsonfigure3:
Between{RO,R1,R2}itimpactsslopeerroronIPTATandVBG
betweenR2Rladderelementsintroducesdifferentialnonlinearity(DNL)errors
betweenBandgapresistorsandR2Rladdercausesslopeandoffseterror
betweenI0andI1introducesslopeandoffseterror.

Figure5:Slopeandoffseterrors

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Butinpractice,themostimportanterrorsareduetoactivecircuitsoffsets:
Comparatoroffsetcausesoffseterror.
Itmustkeepitlowerthan1/2LSB
|V O

C OM P

I DACLSB R3

(23)

ViewSource

IncreasingR3reducesthesensitivitytothisoffset,howeverthisincreasestheopampsettlingtime,whichmustremainlowerthanoneSARclockperiod.
SubtractorOpAmpoffsetcausesslopeandoffseterror.Indeed,thisoffsetcausesVptodifferfrom V
fullscaleoftheDAC.With V
= 1.2V andoffsetof2mV,theslopeerrorwillnotexceed0.1%.

REF

,whichinturnaffectsbothzeroleveland

REF

BandGapOpAmpoffsetisthemostcriticalerrorsourcesinceitisdirectlyaddedtoV be andappliedtoR0. I
R0,soanadditionalcurrenterrorwillbemeasured:

PTAT

R1
IP T AT

= (1 +

IP T AT

= (1 +

V BE + V o

R2

BG

R0

R1
)
R2

isproportionalthevoltageacross

V BE

(1 +

R0

Vo

BG

(24)

V BE

ViewSource

V beisintheorderof70mV,thus V
willbealargesourceoferror,furthermoreoffsetcandriftintemperature.However,thecircuithasbeen
implementedwithoutchoppingandcalibrationbutreliesonverygoodmatchingpropertiesofourprocess,usinglargeenoughdevices.InadditionVREF
willalsobeaffected,butwiththesamesignasthePTATcurrentthusmitigatingthiseffect.
o BG

R1
V REF

of f

= V REF + (1 +

R0

) Vo

BG

(25)

ViewSource

V.2SystematicProcesserrors

in(4)willbeaffectedbycurrentgainvariationswhichhasbeenfoundtobethelargestsystematicsourceoferror.Polysiliconresistorvariationwill
haveonlyasecondordereffectbychangingthecurrentdensity.
PTAT

V.3Digitalcalibration
Asoffseterrorsaretemperatureindependent,theycanbesubtractedfromtheoutputwithaonepointcalibration:

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Figure6:Offsetremovalindigital

Beforecalibration(correctioncode=0):
C (T ) = T 0 + 0f f set + (1 + slopeerror )(T T 0)

(26)

ViewSource

Ifcalibrationisdoneattemperature T ,andmeasuredcode(uncorrected)at T is C ,thecorrectioncodeis T

m

Cm

ThecodeafterthiscalibrationforanothertemperatureTis:
C (T ) = T m + (1 + slopeerror )(T T m )

(27)

ViewSource

ThetemperatureerroristheS lope

error (T

Tm )

Wecannotethatthiserrorincreasewiththedifferencebetweenoperatingtemperatureand T .Sotheidealpointofcalibrationisthemiddleofthe
operatingrange(T0+T1)/2.
m

SECTIONVI.

EXPERIMENTALRESULTS
ThetemperaturesensorhasbeendesignedandfabricatedinST's90nmand65nmCMOSprocesses.Thetypicaltemperaturerangecoveredis127degrees
with7bits.Thiswaschosenasatradeoffbetweenareaandperformance,with1LSB/K,theA/Dconversionaccuracyisbetterthantheabsolutesensor
accuracyduetoanaloguenonidealitiesdepictedinsectionV.Thiswastheoptimum,asaddinganextrabitofresolutionnotonlyaddsanextraresistor
elementbuthalvesthemismatchbudgetonresistors,asthebinaryweightedladderisnotintrinsicallymonotonic.Verycarefullayouttechniqueshavebeen
employedtomergetheR2RarrayandtheBandgapresistorsladderstooptimizeD/ArangetoIptatrangemismatch.
Adedicatedtestchipwasdesigned,withdifferentorientationsofthesamesensor,alsoallowingautomatictilingonsomeinstancesonly,toexplorepossible
impactonperformance.Thetestchiplayoutisshownhereunder,withfoursensors

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Figure7:90nmtestchiplayout,4sensors

Figure8:90nmsensorlayout

Fullsiliconcharacterizationofthesensorhasbeenperformed,bothonamanualbenchandonatester,toreproducetheconstraintsofaproduction
environment.Athermalforcingunitregulatesthedietemperaturewithanairflow,aprecisionsensorisplacedunderthedietoreadtheexact
temperature.12integratedsensorshavebeenmeasured,showingthefollowingresults.

Figure7:Rawsensoroutput,4instances3chips

Figure8:Min/maxdeviationsw.r.t.averageandideal

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Thesensorsproduceanaccurateoutput,withlittledispersionfrominstancetoinstanceonthesamechip,showingnoeffectoforientationandtiling,and
nosignificantdispersionfromchiptochip.Theworstdeviationsobservedon12sensorsareplottedonfigure8,showingadeviationof+3/2degrees
comparedtoideal,withoutcalibration.Themeasurementscoveratemperaturerangeof20to120degrees,16degreeshavetobeaddedtothefigureson
thegraphs,becausethedigitalcorrectionoftheoutput(5bitsadder)wassettozeroduringthesemeasurementswithoutcalibration.

Figure9:Comparisonwithreportedsolutions

SECTIONVII.

CONCLUSION
ThispaperhaspresentedanovelcompacttemperaturesensorwithdigitaloutputforSoCpowermanagement.IthasbeensuccessfullyimplementedinST's
90nm&65nmCMOSprocess,measurementresultshaveshownverygoodcorrelationbetweensensorsintermsoflinearityandabsoluteaccuracy.I
representsgoodcompromisebetweenarea,accuracy,integrationrobustness.TheabsoluteaccuracyissufficientforSoCthermalmanagement,whilethe
smallareaallowstoimplementmultipleinstancesonthesamechip.

FOOTNOTES
"NoDataAvailable"

REFERENCES
1.ISSCCDigestoftechnicalpaper,vol.50,feb,2007,James&Al
ShowContext
2.IEEEJOURNALOFSOLIDSTATECIRCUITS,vol.33,no.7,JULY,1998,"ASwitchedCurrentSwitchedCapacitorTemperatureSensorin0.6umCMOS",Mike
Tuthill&Al
ShowContext
3.A.Bakker,J.H.Huijsing,"MicropowerCMOStemperaturesensorwithdigitaloutput",IEEEJ.SolidStateCircuits,vol.31,pp.933937,July,1996
ShowContext
4."ACMOSSmartTemperatureSensorWithaInaccuracyof0.5CFrom50Cto120C",IEEEJOURNALOFSOLIDSTATECIRCUITS,vol.40,no.2,FEBRUARY,

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2005
ShowContext

AUTHORS
LionelVogt
NoBioAvailable

YounessChara
NoBioAvailable

HichamOuannani
NoBioAvailable

MariaNazih
NoBioAvailable

CITEDBY
None

KEYWORDS
IEEEKeywords
Temperaturesensors,Energymanagement,Voltage,Temperaturedependence,Calibration,Energyconsumption,Circuits,CMOStechnology,Photonicbandgap,
Sensorsystems

INSPEC:ControlledIndexing
temperaturesensors,CMOSintegratedcircuits,systemonchip

INSPEC:NonControlledIndexing
size65nm,integratedtemperaturesensor,SoCpowermanagement,CMOStemperaturesensor,analoguetodigitalconversion,powerconsumption,size90nm

AuthorKeywords
Analoguetodigitalconversion,TemperatureSensor,TemperaturedependantSource

CORRECTIONS
None

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