CMOS-COMPATIBLE SMART TEMPERATURE SENSORS

The properties, characteristics, applications and sensing principles o f most of the present-day integrated smart temperature sensors are dis cussed in this paper. A CMOS process-compatible temperature sensor dev eloped for low-cost high-volume integrated microsystems for a wide ran ge of fields (such as automotive, space, oil prospecting, and biomedic al applications), is also described. Concerning accuracy, a temperatur e error of 0,34 degrees C rms in current mode and 1.86 degrees C rms i n voltage mode (without post-fabrication trimming) over the -50 degree s C to 150 degrees C temperature range are the measured performances o f this integrated wide-range temperature sensor. Other important chara cteristics of the developed sensor are the low cost, the less than 1 m W power consumption, the higher than 40 dB PSRR, and the output signal swing which is intrinsically referenced to the temperature range and was specially conditioned for analogs to digital conversion in both cu rrent and voltage modes. Finally, temperature sensor performances are compared and evaluated. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights rese rved.