Calibration Transducer for Electronic Chip Thermal Characterization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for calibrating electronic chips used in heat pattern detection, such as fingerprint detectors, require lengthy and complex processes involving multiple thermal characteristic measurements, leading to variability between identical chips and the need for non-volatile memory, which increases complexity and cost.
Innovation Solution
A method and electronic chip design that utilize a calibration transducer with different thermal characteristics to measure temperature variations, allowing for chip calibration without contact with a second element, simplifying the process and eliminating the need for non-volatile memory by determining calibration parameters in volatile memory upon power-on.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If multiple thermal characteristic measurements are performed using prior art methods, then calibration accuracy is improved, but calibration time and process complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a calibration transducer as a copy of the normal transducer but with modified thermal characteristics. This calibration transducer is placed in thermal contact with the object being measured, and its response is used to infer the thermal characteristics that would be measured by the normal transducer, eliminating the need for multiple direct measurements with the normal transducer itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The calibration transducer acts as an intermediary device. Instead of directly measuring multiple thermal characteristics with the normal transducer under different conditions, the calibration transducer with known different thermal characteristics serves as a mediator to calculate and determine the normal transducer's response to various thermal conditions through mathematical relationships.
2Measurement precision
If multiple thermal characteristic measurements are performed using prior art methods, then calibration accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases due to non-volatile memory requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The calibration transducer serves as a simplified copy that enables calibration without requiring the chip to store multiple calibration values in non-volatile memory. By using the calibration transducer's response and known thermal characteristic relationships, the system can determine normal transducer behavior through calculation rather than storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the physical storage mechanism (non-volatile memory for storing multiple calibration values) with a computational approach. Instead of storing multiple measured values and retrieving them, the system uses the calibration transducer's single measurement combined with mathematical relationships to derive the necessary calibration information dynamically.
3Manufacturing precision
If measurements are performed on each individual chip, then chip-to-chip variability is addressed, but manufacturing productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The calibration transducer serves as a universal calibration tool that can be used across multiple chips. Since the calibration transducer has known thermal characteristics different from the normal transducer, it enables individual chip calibration through a single measurement process that accounts for chip-specific variations without requiring lengthy multi-step procedures for each chip.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach simplifies the calibration process, reduces chip-to-chip variability, and eliminates the need for non-volatile memory, enabling efficient and cost-effective calibration of electronic chips for heat pattern detection.
Implementation Method 1
electronic chips concerned comprise thermal transducers capable of converting the temperature variation into a difference in potentials
Data Source
AI summary
A method for calibrating an electronic chip comprises: the placing of a calibration transducer of a chip to be calibrated in contact with a first element and the measurement of a corresponding temperature variation ΔTc with this calibration transducer, the calibration thermal transducer having thermal characteristics different from those of the normal transducer so as to measure a temperature variation ΔTc that is different from a variation ΔT1 measured by the normal transducer, and the calibration of the chip to be calibrated on the basis of the measured variations ΔT1 and ΔTc.