Environmental sensor or semiconductor device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10091563-B2
Application number	US-201615554228-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 25, 2016
Priority date	Mar 2, 2015
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

To provide an environmental sensor with reduced power consumption.
A semiconductor device includes a first sensor, a second sensor, a control circuit, a transmission amplifier, a modulation circuit, a memory device, an analog-to-digital converter circuit, and an antenna. The memory device and the analog-to-digital converter circuit each include a transistor in which an oxide semiconductor is formed in a channel region. The second sensor is an optical sensor, and has a function of transmitting a trigger signal to the control circuit when receiving laser light. The control circuit has a function of transmitting a control signal to the first sensor, the transmission amplifier, the modulation circuit, the memory device, and the analog-to-digital converter circuit when receiving the trigger signal. The first sensor is a sensor that senses a physical or chemical quantity, and the measured data is subjected to digital conversion by the analog-to-digital converter circuit and stored in the memory device. In addition, the data is transmitted as an electromagnetic wave signal from the antenna through the modulation circuit and the transmission amplifier.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An environmental sensor comprising:
a first sensor;
a second sensor;
a control circuit;
a transmission amplifier;
a modulation circuit;
a memory device;
an analog-to-digital converter circuit;
a first antenna;
a battery; and
a power supply circuit,
wherein the memory device comprises a first transistor and a first retention node,
wherein the analog-to-digital converter circuit comprises a second transistor and a second retention node,
wherein the first transistor comprises an oxide semiconductor in a channel formation region,
wherein the second transistor comprises an oxide semiconductor in a channel formation region,
wherein the first transistor has a function of controlling charge and discharge at the first retention node,
wherein the second transistor has a function of controlling charge and discharge at the second retention node,
wherein the battery has a function of supplying electric power to the first sensor, the second sensor, the control circuit, the transmission amplifier, the modulation circuit, the memory device, and the analog-to-digital converter circuit through the power supply circuit,
wherein the second sensor has a function of outputting a trigger signal to the control circuit when receiving light,
wherein the control circuit that receives the trigger signal has a function of transmitting a control signal to the first sensor, the memory device, the analog-to-digital converter circuit, the modulation circuit, and the transmission amplifier,
wherein the first sensor has a function of acquiring an external physical quantity or an external chemical quantity as first sensing data,
wherein the analog-to-digital converter circuit has a function of digitizing the first sensing data to generate second sensing data,
wherein the memory device has a function of storing the second sensing data;
wherein the modulation circuit has a function of modulating the second sensing data,
wherein the transmission amplifier has a function of amplifying the second sensing data modulated by the modulation circuit, and
wherein the first antenna has a function of transmitting the second sensing data amplified by the transmission amplifier as a first electromagnetic wave signal.

2. The environmental sensor according to claim 1 wherein the first sensor has a function of measuring at least one of stress, distortion, temperature, humidity, light quantity, current, voltage, the number of particles, and concentration of the particles as the physical quantity.

3. The environmental sensor according to claim 1 wherein the first sensor has a function of measuring the quantity of at least one of an oxide ion, a sulfide ion, a chloride ion, a bromide ion, an iodide ion, a hydroxide ion, a sulfate ion, a carbonate ion, a hydrogen ion, and a calcium ion as the chemical quantity.

4. The environmental sensor according to claim 1
wherein the memory device further comprises a first capacitor, and
wherein the first capacitor has a function of retaining a voltage at the first retention node.

5. The environmental sensor according to claim 1
wherein the analog-to-digital converter circuit further comprises a second capacitor, and
wherein the second capacitor has a function of retaining a voltage at the second retention node.

6. An environmental sensor comprising:
a reception circuit;
a first sensor;
a control circuit;
a transmission amplifier;
a modulation circuit;
a memory device;
an analog-to-digital converter circuit;
a first antenna;
a battery; and
a power supply circuit,
wherein the memory device comprises a first transistor and a first retention node,
wherein the analog-to-digital converter circuit comprises a second transistor and a second retention node,
wherein the first transistor comprises an oxide semiconductor in a channel formation region,
wherein the second transistor comprises an oxide semiconductor in a channel formation region,
wherein the first transistor has a function of controlling charge and discharge at the first retention node,
wherein the second transistor has a function of controlling charge and discharge at the second retention node,
wherein the battery has a function of supplying electric power to the first sensor, the reception circuit, the control circuit, the transmission amplifier, the modulation circuit, the memory device, and the analog-to-digital converter circuit through the power supply circuit,
wherein the reception circuit has a function of outputting a trigger signal to the control circuit when receiving a signal from the outside,
wherein the control circuit that receives the trigger signal has a function of transmitting a control signal to the first sensor, the memory device, the analog-to-digital converter circuit, the modulation circuit, and the transmission amplifier,
wherein the first sensor has a function of acquiring an external physical quantity or an external chemical quantity as first sensing data,
wherein the analog-to-digital converter circuit has a function of digitizing the first sensing data to generate second sensing data,
wherein the memory device has a function of storing the second sensing data,
wherein the modulation circuit has a function of modulating the second sensing data,
wherein the transmission amplifier has a function of amplifying the second sensing data modulated by the modulation circuit, and
wherein the first antenna has a function of transmitting the second sensing data amplified by the transmission amplifier as a first electromagnetic wave signal.

7. The environmental sensor according to claim 6 ,
wherein the reception circuit comprises a detector circuit,
wherein the battery has a function of supplying electric power to the detector circuit through the power supply circuit,
wherein the first antenna has a function of receiving a second electromagnetic wave signal from the outside, and
wherein the detector circuit has functions of demodulating the second electromagnetic wave signal and outputting it as the trigger signal to the control circuit.

8. The environmental sensor according to claim 6 ,
wherein the reception circuit comprises a second antenna and a detector circuit,
wherein the battery has a function of supplying electric power to the detector circuit through the power supply circuit,
wherein the second antenna has a function of receiving a second electromagnetic wave signal from the outside,
wherein the detector circuit has functions of demodulating the second electromagnetic wave signal and outputting it as the trigger signal to the control circuit, and
wherein a frequency of the first electromagnetic wave signal and a frequency of the second electromagnetic wave signal are different from each other.

9. The environmental sensor according to claim 6 , wherein the first sensor has a function of measuring at least one of stress, distortion, temperature, humidity, light quantity, current, voltage, the number of particles, and concentration of the particles as the physical quantity.

10. The environmental sensor according to claim 6 , wherein the first sensor has a function of measuring the quantity of at least one of an oxide ion, a sulfide ion, a chloride ion, a bromide ion, an iodide ion, a hydroxide ion, a sulfate ion, a carbonate ion, a hydrogen ion, and a calcium ion as the chemical quantity.

11. The environmental sensor according to claim 6 , wherein the memory device further comprises a first capacitor, and
wherein the first capacitor has a function of retaining a voltage at the first retention node.

12. The environmental sensor according to claim 6 , wherein the analog-to-digital converter

Assignees

• Semiconductor Energy Lab

Inventors

• Koyama Jun

Classifications

• H04Q9/00 Primary

  Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom · CPC title

• G11C11/4074

  Power supply or voltage generation circuits, e.g. bias voltage generators, substrate voltage generators, back-up power, power control circuits · CPC title

• G11C11/404

  with one charge-transfer gate, e.g. MOS transistor, per cell · CPC title

• H04Q2209/40

  using a wireless architecture · CPC title

• H03M1/46

  with digital/analogue converter for supplying reference values to converter · CPC title