A Compact CMOS Temperature Sensor for On-Chip Thermal Monitoring

This work reports the characterization results of a CMOS temperature sensor that exploits the comparison between two sensing digital signals, taking into account linearity constraints. The sensor has been fabricated in a 130-nm standard CMOS technology with the aim of measuring on-chip temperature. Its simple circuit topology allows a digital readout of the temperature in the industrial operative range and occupies a die area of only 0.00916 mm². Experimental results confirm the theorized response, further showing a current consumption equal to 2 μA at 1.3-V supply and an energy/conversion of only 12 nJ and a resolution of 0.012 °C.