Temperature sensing device and sensing method thereof

Abstract

A temperature sensing device and its sensing method applicable to memory devices are proposed. The memory device is, for example, a three-dimensional reverse-interval flash memory, providing a high-performance and high-capacity storage medium. The temperature sensing device includes a temperature sensing circuit, an arithmetic circuit, and a voltage conversion circuit. The temperature sensing circuit senses the ambient temperature to generate a sensing voltage, wherein the sensing voltage has a first temperature coefficient. The arithmetic circuit performs multiple comparison operations between the sensing voltage and the converted voltage to generate a comparison result set, and adjusts the output information based on the comparison result set. The voltage conversion circuit generates a converted voltage based on a reference voltage and the output information.

Claims

1. A temperature sensing device, comprising: A temperature sensing circuit senses the ambient temperature to generate a sensing voltage, wherein the sensing voltage has a first temperature coefficient. An arithmetic circuit performs multiple comparison operations on a sensed voltage and a conversion voltage to generate a comparison result set, and adjusts an output information based on the comparison result set; and a voltage conversion circuit generates the conversion voltage based on a reference voltage and the output information, wherein the arithmetic circuit adjusts the output information when multiple comparison results in the comparison result set are the same, and the arithmetic circuit maintains the output information unchanged when the comparison results are not the same.

2. The temperature sensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the comparison result group includes a first comparison result and a second comparison result, and the arithmetic circuit decrements the output information by a first offset value when both the first comparison result and the second comparison result indicate that the conversion voltage is greater than the sensing voltage; and the arithmetic circuit increments the output information by a second offset value when both the first comparison result and the second comparison result indicate that the conversion voltage is not greater than the sensing voltage.

3. The temperature sensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the arithmetic circuit calculates an average value of a plurality of comparison results in the comparison result set, and adjusts the output information based on the average value.

4. The temperature sensing device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the arithmetic circuit further calculates the cumulative number of multiple logical combinations of the comparison results, and in the calculation of the average value, excludes at least one of the comparison results having a relatively low cumulative number.

5. The temperature sensing device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the arithmetic circuit calculates the absolute value of the difference between the average value and the maximum and minimum values ​​among the comparison results during a stable period, and outputs the average value as the output information when the absolute value of the differences is less than a threshold value.

6. The temperature sensing device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the arithmetic circuit sets the output information based on the logic value closest to the average value.

7. The temperature sensing device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the comparison results obtained by the arithmetic circuit in an initial at least one time period are not used to calculate the average value.

8. The temperature sensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the arithmetic circuit generates an initial value for the output information by comparing the sensed voltage and the conversion voltage according to a progressive mechanism.

9. The temperature sensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the arithmetic circuit, in the plurality of comparison results of the comparison result group, indicates that a first number of comparison results indicating that the conversion voltage is greater than the sensing voltage is greater than a second number of comparison results indicating that the conversion voltage is not greater than the sensing voltage, and causes the output information to decrease by a first offset value; the arithmetic circuit, when the first number is not greater than the second number, causes the output information to decrease by a second offset value.

10. The temperature sensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the arithmetic circuitry includes: A comparator having a positive input terminal to receive the converted voltage, a negative input terminal to receive a sensed voltage, and an output terminal to generate each of a plurality of comparison results in the comparison result set; and an arithmetic unit coupled to the output terminal of the comparator to adjust the output information based on the comparison results.

11. The temperature sensing device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the arithmetic unit comprises: An average value calculation circuit calculates the average of these comparison results and provides an adjustment offset value based on the average value; And an adder that uses the initial output information or the previous output information and the adjustment offset value to generate the current output information.

12. The temperature sensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the voltage conversion circuit comprises: A voltage buffer that generates a buffer voltage based on the reference voltage; A resistor string, which receives the buffered voltage, has multiple resistors connected in series with each other; And multiple switches, wherein the first terminals of the switches are commonly coupled to generate the conversion voltage, the second terminals of the switches are respectively coupled to multiple coupling terminals between the resistors, and the switches are turned on or off according to the digital value of the output information.

13. The temperature sensing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first temperature coefficient is a positive temperature coefficient.

14. A temperature sensing method, comprising: The ambient temperature is sensed to generate a sensing voltage, wherein the sensing voltage has a first temperature coefficient; Based on a reference voltage, a conversion voltage is generated according to an output information; and an arithmetic circuit is provided to perform multiple comparison operations on the sensed voltage and the conversion voltage to generate a comparison result set, and the output information is adjusted according to the comparison result set; and the arithmetic circuit adjusts the output information when multiple comparison results in the comparison result set are the same, and the arithmetic circuit maintains the output information unchanged when the comparison results are not the same.

15. The temperature sensing method as described in claim 14, comprising: The arithmetic circuit decrements the output information by a first offset value when both a first comparison result and a second comparison result in the comparison result group indicate that the conversion voltage is greater than the sensing voltage; increases the output information by a second offset value when both the first comparison result and the second comparison result indicate that the conversion voltage is not greater than the sensing voltage; and maintains the output information unchanged when the first comparison result and the second comparison result are different.

16. The temperature sensing method as described in claim 14, comprising: The arithmetic circuit calculates an average value of multiple comparison results in the comparison result group, and adjusts the output information based on the average value.

17. The temperature sensing method as described in claim 16, comprising: During a stable period, the arithmetic circuit calculates the absolute value of the difference between the average value and the maximum and minimum values ​​among the comparison results. When the absolute value of these differences is less than a threshold, the average value is output as the output information.

18. The temperature sensing method as described in claim 14, comprising: The arithmetic circuit generates the initial value of the output information by comparing the sensed voltage and the conversion voltage according to a progressive mechanism.

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