Semiconductor physical quantity sensing device

• US 7,180,798 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2003
• Issued: 02/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fuji Electric Company Limited (Fuji Electric Systems Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Electric Company Limited (Fuji Electric Systems Company Limited)
• Inventors: Ueyanagi, Katsumichi, Nishikawa, Mutsuo
• Primary Examiner(s): Zarabian; Amir
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pham; Ly Duy
• Application Number:
  US10/406,604
• Publication Number:
  US 20040027872A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,418 Days
• Field of Search: 365/207, 365/189.01, 365/191, 365/211, 365/94, 702/130, 702/138
• US Class Current: 365/191
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 18/008 with calibration coefficients stored in memory
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 3/022 having an ideal characteristic, map or correction data stored in a digital memory
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 2207/2254 Calibration

Abstract

A semiconductor physical quantity sensing device to perform electrical trimming at low cost by using a CMOS manufacturing process and a small number of terminals. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device includes a wheatstone bridge circuit, which is a sensor element, an auxiliary memory circuit, which stores provisional trimming data, a main memory circuit, which stores finalized trimming data, an adjusting circuit, which adjusts the output characteristics of the sensor element based on trimming data stored in the auxiliary memory circuit or the main memory circuit, with the elements and circuits being only configured of active elements and passive elements manufactured by way of the CMOS manufacturing process formed on a same semiconductor chip.

Claims

1. A semiconductor physical quantity sensing device, comprising:

a sensor element to generate an electric signal responsive to a detected physical quantity;

an output terminal to output to the exterior the electric signal generated by the sensor element;

a data input terminal to input serial digital data;

an auxiliary memory circuit to temporarily store trimming data, for adjusting output characteristics of the sensor element, inputted from the data input terminal;

a re-writable read-only main memory circuit to store, by way of an electrical re-write action, the trimming data stored in said auxiliary memory circuit;

an adjusting circuit to adjust the output characteristic of the sensor element based on trimming data stored in the auxiliary memory circuit or trimming data stored in the main memory circuit,

operation of the semiconductor physical quantity sensing device being configured to include active and passive elements formed on the same semiconductor chip and manufactured only by a CMOS manufacturing process, and

an operation selection circuit to control operation of the auxiliary memory circuit and the main memory circuit based partly on digital data stored by the auxiliary memory circuit.

2. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary memory circuit converts inputted serial digital data to parallel digital data and supplies the converted data to circuits within the semiconductor physical quantity sensing device.

3. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 1, having a sensitivity adjusting circuit to perform change/adjustment of current applied to the sensor element based on the trimming data to set a sensitivity of the sensor element.

4. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 3, further comprising a temperature characteristics adjusting circuit to perform an addition/subtraction in respect to an output of said sensitivity adjusting circuit.

5. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 2, having a sensitivity adjusting circuit to perform change/adjustment of current applied to the sensor element based on the trimming data to set a sensitivity of the sensor element.

6. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 1, further comprising an amplifier circuit to amplify and output the electric signal generated by the sensor element, wherein the adjusting circuit further includes an offset adjusting circuit to change/adjust a reference voltage for offset adjustment of the amplifier circuit.

7. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 6, wherein the adjusting circuit further includes a temperature characteristics adjusting circuit to perform addition/subtraction to an outputs of a sensitivity adjusting circuit and the offset adjusting circuit.

8. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 2, further comprising an amplifier circuit to amplify and output the electric signal generated by the sensor element, wherein the adjusting circuit further includes an offset adjusting circuit to change/adjust a reference voltage for offset adjustment of the amplifier circuit.

9. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 8, wherein the adjusting circuit further includes a temperature characteristics adjusting circuit to perform addition/subtraction to an outputs of a sensitivity adjusting circuit and the offset adjusting circuit.

10. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 3, further comprising an amplifier circuit to amplify and output the electric signal generated by the sensor element, wherein the adjusting circuit further includes an offset adjusting circuit to change/adjust a reference voltage for offset adjustment of the amplifier circuit.

11. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 10, wherein the adjusting circuit further includes a temperature characteristics adjusting circuit to perform addition/subtraction to an outputs of a sensitivity adjusting circuit and the offset adjusting circuit.

12. A semiconductor physical quantity sensing device, comprising:

a sensor element to generate an electric signal responsive to a detected physical quantity;

an output terminal to output to the exterior the electric signal generated by the sensor element;

a data input terminal to input serial digital data;

an auxiliary memory circuit to temporarily store trimming data, for adjusting output characteristics of the sensor element, inputted from the data input terminal;

a re-writable read-only main memory circuit to store, by way of an electrical re-write action, the trimming data stored in said auxiliary memory circuit;

an adjusting circuit to adjust the output characteristic of the sensor element based on trimming data stored in the auxiliary memory circuit or trimming data stored in the main memory circuit;

operation of the semiconductor physical quantity sensing device being configured to include only active and passive elements formed on the same semiconductor chip and manufactured only by a CMOS manufacturing process,

wherein the data input terminal also functions as a terminal to output data stored in the auxiliary memory circuit;

the auxiliary memory circuit outputs stored data as serial digital data; and

the semiconductor physical quantity sensing device sensing device further includes, between the data input terminal and the auxiliary memory circuit, an input/output switching circuit to switch between either supplying to the auxiliary memory circuit serial digital data inputted from the data input terminal or supplying of the data input terminal serial digital data outputted from the auxiliary memory circuit.

13. A semiconductor physical quantity sensing device, comprising:

a sensor element to generate an electric signal responsive to a detected physical quantity;

an output terminal to output to the exterior the electric signal generated by the sensor element;

a data input terminal to input serial digital data;

an auxiliary memory circuit to temporarily store trimming data, for adjusting output characteristics of the sensor element, inputted from the data input terminal;

a re-writable read-only main memory circuit to store, by way of an electrical re-write action, the trimming data stored in said auxiliary memory circuit; and

an adjusting circuit to adjust the output characteristic of the sensor element based on trimming data stored in the auxiliary memory circuit or trimming data stored in the main memory circuit,

operation of the semiconductor physical quantity sensing device being configured to include only active and passive elements formed on the same semiconductor chip and manufactured only by a CMOS manufacturing process,

wherein the semiconductor physical quantity sensing device has seven terminals in total, including the output terminal, the data input terminal, a terminal to supply earth potential, a terminal to supply operating voltage, a terminal to input an external clock, a terminal to input signals to control internal digital circuits, and a terminal to supply a write voltage higher than an operating voltage for writing data into the main memory circuit, and also including a circuit to generate a different second write voltage based on the write voltage.

14. A semiconductor physical quantity sensing device, comprising:

a sensor element to generate an electric signal responsive to a detected physical quantity;

an output terminal to output to the exterior the electric signal generated by the sensor element;

a data input terminal to input serial digital data;

an auxiliary memory circuit to termporarily store trimming data, for adusting output characteristics of the sensor element, inputted from the data input terminal;

a re-writable read-only main memory circuit to store, by way of an electrical re-write action, the trimming data stored in said auxiliary memory circuit; and

an adjusting circuit to adjust the output characteristic of the sensor element based on trimming data stored in the auxiliary memory circuit or trimming data stored in the main memory circuit,

operation of the semiconductor physical quantity sensing device being configured to include only active and passive elements formed on the same semiconductor chip and manufactured only by a CMOS manufacturing process,

wherein the semiconductor physical quantity sensing device has eight terminals in total, including the output terminal, the data input terminal, a terminal to supply earth potential, a terminal to supply operating voltage, a terminal to input an external clock, a terminal to input signals to control internal digital circuits, a terminal to supply first write voltage higher than an operating voltage to write data into the main memory circuit, and a terminal to supply a second write voltage higher than the operating voltage and different from the first write voltage.

15. A semiconductor physical quantity sensing device, comprising:

a sensor element to output an electrical signal indicating a detected physical quantity;

an output terminal to output the electrical signal, generated by the sensor element, to outside the semiconductor physical quantity sensing device;

a data input terminal to input serial digital data;

a ground terminal to supply a ground potential;

a power supply terminal to supply a power supply voltage;

an auxiliary memory circuit to temporarily store trimming data, for adjusting output characteristics of the sensor element, inputted from the data input terminal;

a re-writable read-only main memory circuit to store, by way of an electrical re-write action, the trimming data stored in said auxiliary memory circuit; and

a first write terminal to input an external clock or supply a first write voltage higher than the power supply voltage to write data into the main memory circuit;

a second write terminal to supply a second write voltage, higher than the power supply voltage and different from the first write voltage, to write data into the main memory circuit;

an operation selection circuit to control the auxiliary memory circuit and the main memory circuit based on at least a portion of digital data stored in the auxiliary memory circuit;

a signal distinguishing unit to distinguish whether a voltage applied to the first write terminal is the external clock or the first write voltage, respectively, to supply the external clock to the auxiliary memory circuit or to supply the first write voltage to the main memory circuit; and

an adjusting circuit to adjust the output characteristics of the sensor element based on the trimming data stored in the auxiliary memory circuit or based on the trimming data stored in the main memory circuit,

the sensor element, the auxiliary memory circuit, the main memory circuit, the operation selection circuit, the signal distinguishing unit, and the adjusting circuit being made of active elements and passive elements manufactured through a CMOS manufacturing process and being formed on one single semiconductor chip together with the output terminal, the data input terminal, the ground terminal, the power supply terminal, the first write terminal, and the second write terminal.

16. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 15, wherein the signal distinguishing unit distinguishes whether the voltage applied to the first write terminal is the first write voltage based on the voltage applied to the first write terminal being higher than the power supply voltage and whether the voltage applied to the first write terminal is the external clock based on the voltage applied to the first write terminal being lower than the power supply voltage.

17. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 15, wherein the auxiliary memory circuit converts inputted serial digital data to parallel digital data and supplies the converted parallel digital data to circuits inside the semiconductor physical quantity sensing device.

18. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 15, wherein the adjusting circuit comprises a sensitivity adjusting circuit to trim current fed to the sensor element to set a sensitivity of the sensor element based on the trimming data.

19. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 18, wherein the adjusting circuit further comprises a temperature characteristics adjusting circuit to perform addition and subtraction to an output of the sensitivity adjusting circuit.

20. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 15, wherein the semiconductor physical quantity sensing device further comprises an amplifier circuit to amplify the electric signal generated by the sensor element and output the amplified electric signal, and the adjusting circuit comprises an offset adjusting circuit to trim a reference voltage for trimming an offset of the amplifier circuit.

21. The semiconductor physical quantity sensing device of claim 20, wherein the adjusting circuit further comprises a temperature characteristics adjusting circuit to perform addition and subtraction to an output of the sensitivity adjusting circuit and to an output of the offset adjusting circuit.