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Phase change material based temperature sensor

  • US 8,114,686 B2
  • Filed: 06/21/2010
  • Issued: 02/14/2012
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A method of measuring an operating temperature of a semiconductor chip comprising:

  • characterizing temperature dependency of the resistivity of an amorphous phase change material and generating a fitting function;

    designing and manufacturing a semiconductor circuit having a block of said amorphous phase change material and current measurement capability through said block;

    subjecting said semiconductor chip to an operating condition and measuring an operating condition current through said block;

    calculating an operation condition resistivity from said measured operating condition current; and

    calculating a temperature at which said fitting function generates said calculated operating condition resistivity, wherein said semiconductor circuit includes a semiconductor structure comprising;

    a semiconductor device including a component located within a semiconductor substrate, wherein said component comprises a same semiconductor material as said semiconductor substrate, said block of said amorphous phase change material contacting a surface of said component and embedded in a dielectric layer located over said semiconductor substrate;

    a first metal contact that is in direct contact with one portion of said block and embedded in said dielectric layer; and

    a second metal contact that is in direct contact with another portion of said block and embedded in said dielectric layer.

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