Phase change material based temperature sensor
First Claim
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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Accused Products
Abstract
A block of phase change material located in a semiconductor chip is reset to an amorphous state. The block of phase change material may be connected to an internal resistance measurement circuit that can transmit the measured resistance data to input/output pads either in an analog output format or in a digital output format. Depending on the ambient temperature, the resistance of the block of phase change material changes. By measuring a fractional resistance change compared to the resistance of the phase change material at a calibration temperature, the temperature of the region around the phase change material can be accurately measured. A logic decoder and an input/output circuit may be employed between the internal resistance measurement circuit and the input/output pads. A plurality of temperature sensing circuits containing phase change material blocks may be employed in the semiconductor chip to enable an accurate temperature profiling during chip operation.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method of measuring an operating temperature of a semiconductor chip comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of measuring an operating temperature of a semiconductor chip comprising:
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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 as manufactured includes a semiconductor structure comprising; a metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) located on a semiconductor substrate and including a gate dielectric that contacts a top surface of said semiconductor substrate; said block of said amorphous phase change material contacting a surface of a semiconductor device component located within a semiconductor substrate and said block embedded in a dielectric layer located over said semiconductor substrate; and another dielectric layer contacting an entirety of a bottom surface of said block of phase change material and electrically isolating said block of phase change material from any semiconductor device located directly underneath said block of phase change material. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification