High sensitive and wide detecting range MOS tunneling temperature sensors for on-chip temperature detection
Journal
IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices
Journal Volume
51
Journal Issue
9
Pages
1514-1521
Date Issued
2004
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper examined the feasibility of applying a highly sensitive metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) tunneling temperature sensor, which was compatible with current CMOS technology. As the sensor was biased positively at a constant voltage, the gate current increased more than when the sensor was biased at a constant-current situation, its gate voltage magnitude changed significantly with substrate temperature, with a sensitivity exceeding -2 V/ °C. The improvement of temperature sensitivity in this paper is one thousand times over the sensitivity of a conventional p-n junction, i.e., namely, about -2 mV/ °C. Regarding a temperature sensor array, this paper proposes a method using gate current gain, rather than absolute gate current, to eliminate the gate current discrepancy among sensors. For constant current operation, a sensitivity exceeding 10 V/ °C can be obtained if the current level is suitable. Finally, this paper demonstrates a real temperature distribution for on-chip detection. With such a high temperature-sensitive sensor, accurate temperature detection can be incorporated into common CMOS circuits. © 2004 IEEE.
Other Subjects
Gate current; Temperature detection; Temperature sensitivity; Temperature sensor array; Tunneling temperature sensors; Arrays; CMOS integrated circuits; Electric currents; Electric potential; Integrated circuit layout; Semiconductor device structures; Semiconductor junctions; Sensors; Temperature distribution; Thermal effects; Tunnel diodes; MOS devices
Type
journal article