Time-domain digital temperature sensor

Abstract

The invention relates to a two-ring oscillator-based time-domain digital temperature sensor. The two-ring oscillator-based time-domain digital temperature sensor of the present invention comprises three parts, wherein the first part uses two oscillating rings with different sensitivities to temperature as a sensor temperature detection part, the second part is an oscillating ring frequency-to-temperature dependent digital code converting part which adopts a TDC (time-to-digital converter) composed of pure digital logic devices as a conversion unit, and the third part is a frequency arithmetic operation and off-chip calibration part. According to the two-ring oscillator-based time-domain digital temperature sensor of the present invention, two known temperature points are required to be adopted as calibration reference points to obtain a measured absolute temperature value.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a sensor, in particular to a digital temperature sensor in the time domain, which mainly detects the temperature inside a processor. Background technique [0002] As processes continue to advance, modern integrated circuits have become increasingly sensitive to variables such as temperature, voltage and process. These variables make the circuit more unpredictable and cause many reliability problems. In order to improve the reliability of the chip, we need to detect and manage various variables on the chip, which is a big driving force for the development of sensors. [0003] Although the traditional analog sensor has relatively high precision, the chip area and power consumption are relatively large. In addition to this, conventional voltage domain sensors require an ADC (analog-to-digital converter) to convert the detected voltage value into a digital temperature code. This requires analog components such as capacitors, whi...

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Problems solved by technology

[0005] However, using a phase accumulator for quantization makes the accuracy of the sensor depend on the step size of the accumulator, which is difficult to guarantee when the transition time of the test is fast

In addition, the internal structure of the phase accumulator is complex, which also affects the integration

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