A Low-Cost CMOS Programmable Temperature Switch.

Area of Science:

• Integrated Circuit Design
• Semiconductor Devices
• Temperature Sensing

Background:

• Accurate and programmable temperature switches are crucial for modern electronic systems.
• Existing solutions often lack flexibility in threshold setting or exhibit significant power consumption.
• Process variations in semiconductor manufacturing can lead to unreliable threshold temperatures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel uncalibrated CMOS programmable temperature switch.
• To achieve high temperature accuracy and automatic compensation for process variations.
• To demonstrate a device with adjustable threshold temperatures and low power consumption.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical explanation of the temperature switch circuit's operating principles.
• Design of a floating gate neural MOS circuit for automatic threshold temperature compensation.
• Implementation of the switch circuit in a standard 0.35 μm CMOS process.

Main Results:

• The temperature switch can be programmed for 16 different threshold temperatures between 45°C and 120°C with 5°C increments.
• Measurements show good consistency in threshold temperatures.
• Achieved a low chip core area of 0.04 mm² and power consumption of 3.1 μA at a 3.3V supply.

Conclusions:

• The developed CMOS programmable temperature switch offers high accuracy and adjustable threshold temperatures.
• The integrated compensation circuit effectively mitigates process variations.
• The device presents advantages of low power consumption, programmable thresholds, and controllable hysteresis for thermal management solutions.