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PN-junction temperature sensing apparatus

  • US 7,758,240 B2
  • Filed: 12/04/2006
  • Issued: 07/20/2010
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2004
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A PN-junction temperature sensing apparatus comprising:

  • a plurality of current sources, wherein each current source comprises a p-type MOSFET transistor being source connected to a supply voltage;

    a band gap based current reference, which is mirrored in the plurality of current sources;

    switches having two selectable outputs controlled by a digital processor, wherein each switch is connected with the drain of each current source and wherein a first output of each switch is connected to an anode of a PN-junction thermal sensor and a second output of each switch is connected to an anode of a sink diode and wherein the cathodes of both components are connected to a common level, wherein the number of current sources connected to the switches consists of an odd number of three or more, and wherein each of the current sources exhibits a current gain ratio with respect to the band gap based current reference of 1;

    1;

    an integrated A/D converter to digitize the voltage across the PN-junction sensor, wherein the value of the digitized voltage is stored in a memory of the digital processor.

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