PN-JUNCTION TEMPERATURE SENSING APPARATUS

摘要

The invention relates to a PN-junction temperature sensing apparatus for applying input signals to a semiconductor device and measuring temperature-dependent output signals. This apparatus comprises an odd number of current sources (1, 2, n) switches (5, 6, 7) with selectable outputs to connect the current sources (5, 6, 7) with a thermal sensor (12) or a sink diode (13) and an A/D converter (17) to digitize the measured voltage of the thermal sensor (12). A digital processor (18) controls the switches (5, 6, 7) and stores the digitized voltage values in a memory. Provided algorithms allow the usage of these values to provide a calibrated measurement of temperature and also sensor life estimation.