Small area high performance cell-based thermal diode

Abstract

A thermal sensing system includes a circuit having a layout including standard cells arranged in rows and columns. First and second current sources provide first and second currents, respectively. The thermal sensing system includes thermal sensing units, first and second switching modules, and an analog to digital converter (ADC). Each thermal sensing unit is configured to provide a voltage drop dependent on a temperature at that thermal sensing unit. The first switching module is configured to select one of the thermal sensing units. The second switching module includes at least one switch controllable by a control signal. The at least one switch is configured to selectively couple the thermal sensing units, based on the control signal, to one of the first and second current sources, via the first switching module. The ADC is configured to convert an analog voltage, provided by the selected thermal sensing unit, to a digital value. The invention also provides a small area high performance cell-based thermal diode.

Description

[0001] Cross References to Related Applications [0002] This application claims the benefit of prior US Patent Application Serial No. 61 / 592,658, filed January 31, 2012, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. technical field [0003] The present invention relates to the field of semiconductors, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a cell-based thermal diode with small area and high performance. Background technique [0004] Heat dissipation is gaining more and more attention in various circuit applications. With the high gate counts and high operating efficiencies of modern system-on-chip (SoC) applications, especially for 2.5D or 3D integrated circuit (IC) applications, thermal issues are clearly escalating. Some areas on the chip may be relatively hot, while others may be relatively cool, and monitoring of "hot spots" is required for efficient circuit performance. [0005] Conventional thermal sensing systems use devices s...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

For example, using a different transistor configuration can double the number of transistors, thereby increasing component cost and die area, which can be problematic due to the large number of transistors used in a typical SoC thermal sensing application

Also, using two devices instead of one to sense temperature can be problematic due to device mismatches that can degrade performance (for example, due to process variations)

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