Small area high performance cell-based thermal diode

摘要

A thermal sensing system includes a circuit having a layout including standard cells arranged in rows and columns. First and second current sources provide first and second currents, respectively. The thermal sensing system includes thermal sensing units, first and second switching modules, and an analog to digital converter (ADC). Each thermal sensing unit is configured to provide a voltage drop dependent on a temperature at that thermal sensing unit. The first switching module is configured to select one of the thermal sensing units. The second switching module includes at least one switch controllable by a control signal. The at least one switch is configured to selectively couple the thermal sensing units, based on the control signal, to one of the first and second current sources, via the first switching module. The ADC is configured to convert an analog voltage, provided by the selected thermal sensing unit, to a digital value.

主权项

1. An apparatus comprising:
a global current switching module including:
a first current source for providing a first current,a second current source for providing a second current different than the first current,at least one first switch controllable by at least one control signal, the at least one first switch configured to couple the first current source to a node of the global current switching module during a first phase and to couple the second current source to the node of the global switching module during a second phase, andat least one second switch coupled to the node of the global current switching module; and a plurality of local devices each including a single transistor, each local device being selectively coupled to the node of the global current switching module through the at least one second switch, each local device disposed at a different location on an integrated circuit chip and configured to provide, at the node of the global current switching module, a voltage dependent on the temperature at the respective local device in response to being coupled to the node of the global current switching module through the at least one second switch, wherein the voltage provided by each local device when coupled to the node comprises a first voltage generated during the first phase when the first current source is coupled to the node and a second voltage generated during the second phase when the second current source is coupled to the node.