Self-calibrated thermal sensors of an integrated circuit die

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10247624-B2
Application number	US-201615285405-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2016
Priority date	Jun 11, 2013
Publication date	Apr 2, 2019
Grant date	Apr 2, 2019

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide self-calibrated thermal sensors of an integrated circuit (IC) die and associated techniques and configurations. In one embodiment, a self-calibrating thermal sensing device includes a resonator configured to oscillate at a frequency corresponding with a temperature of circuitry of an integrated circuit (IC) die, wherein the resonator is thermally coupled with the circuitry and configured to operate in a first mode and a second mode and logic operatively coupled with the resonator, and configured to calculate a first temperature corresponding with a first frequency of the resonator in the first mode using a first equation, calculate a second temperature corresponding with a second frequency of the resonator in the second mode using a second equation, and add an offset to the first equation and the second equation based on a result of a comparison of the first temperature and the second temperature. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A thermal sensing device, the device comprising:
a resonator to oscillate at a frequency corresponding with a temperature of circuitry of an integrated circuit (IC) die, wherein the resonator is disposed on an active side of the IC die, and thermally coupled with the circuitry to operate in a first mode or a second mode;
an actuation electrode disposed on the IC die to activate oscillation of the resonator to provide a first mode oscillation or a second mode oscillation; and
an automatic level control (ALC) module, wherein the ALC module is to provide a level of gain for the first mode oscillation or the second mode oscillation.

2. The thermal sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the resonator includes an equivalent circuit that includes a resistor, an inductor, or a capacitor coupled in series or in parallel, or a combination thereof.

3. The thermal sensing device of claim 1 , wherein the resonator includes a copper plate, and wherein the copper plate includes one of a rectangle, a square, a polygon, a circular shape, an annular ring, or a combination of a polygon and a curved shape.

4. The thermal sensing device of claim 1 , further comprising:
an amplifier coupled with the resonator in a positive feedback configuration, wherein the amplifier is to excite the first mode oscillation or the second mode oscillation at a frequency corresponding with a resonant frequency of the resonator to provide a first frequency of the resonator in the first mode or a second frequency of the resonator in the second mode.

5. The thermal sensing device of claim 4 , wherein the ALC module is coupled with the amplifier to set a gain of the amplifier.

6. The thermal sensing device of claim 4 , further comprising:
an output module coupled with the resonator to output information about the first frequency of the resonator in the first mode or the second frequency of the resonator in the second mode.

7. The thermal sensing device of claim 6 , further comprising:
a power control unit (PCU) coupled with the output module, the PCU to manage power of the IC die based on the information from the output module.

8. The thermal sensing device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a logic disposed on the IC die and operatively coupled with the resonator, to
calculate a first temperature of the IC die corresponding with a first frequency of the resonator in the first mode using a first equation,
calculate a second temperature of the IC die corresponding with a second frequency of the resonator in the second mode using a second equation, and
add an offset to the first equation and the second equation based on a result of a comparison of the first temperature and the second temperature.

9. The thermal sensing device of claim 8 , wherein:
the first equation includes a thermal response curve equation to perform a soft trim algorithm.

10. The thermal sensing device of claim 8 , wherein the logic is to further iteratively calculate the first temperature or the second temperature and add the offset to the first temperature or the second temperature until the first temperature or the second temperature are equal or until a difference between the first temperature or the second temperature is minimized or smaller than a pre-determined threshold.

11. The thermal sensing device of claim 8 , wherein the logic is to further:
activate the first mode oscillation of the resonator;
receive the first frequency of the resonator in the first mode;
activate the second mode oscillation of the resonator;
receive the second frequency of the resonator in the second mode; and
compare the first temperature and the second temperature to provide the result of the comparison of the first temperature and the second temperature.

12. An integrated circuit (IC) die comprising:
circuitry, wherein the circuitry generates heat when in operation;
a resonator thermally coupled with the circuitry to oscillate at a frequency corresponding with a temperature of the circuitry, wherein the resonator is to operate in a first mode or a second mode;
an actuation electrode disposed on the IC die to activate oscillation of the resonator to provide a first mode oscillation or a second mode oscillation; and
an automatic level control (ALC) module, wherein the ALC module is to provide a level of gain for the first mode oscillation or the second mode oscillation.

13. The IC die of claim 12 , further comprising:
an interconnect layer disposed on the circuitry to route electrical signals to or from the circuitry, wherein the resonator is thermally coupled with the circuitry through the interconnect layer, the circuitry includes a transistor device disposed on an active side of the IC die and the resonator is disposed on the active side of the IC die.

14. The IC die of claim 12 , wherein:
the resonator comprises a copper plate coupled with electrodes, wherein the copper plate includes one of a rectangle, a square, a polygon, a circular shape, an annular ring, or a combination of a polygon and a curved shape;
the first mode is activated by out-of-phase biasing of the electrodes; and
the second mode is activated by in-phase biasing of the electrodes.

15. The IC die of claim 12 , further comprising:
a logic disposed on the IC die and operatively coupled with the resonator, to
calculate a first temperature of the IC die corresponding with a first frequency of the resonator in the first mode using a first equation,
calculate a second temperature of the IC die corresponding with a second frequency of the resonator in the second mode using a second equation, and
add an offset to the first equation or the second equation based on a result of a comparison of the first temperature and the second temperature.

16. The IC die of claim 15 , wherein the first equation includes a thermal response curve equation to perform a soft trim algorithm.

17. The IC die of claim 15 , wherein:
the IC die includes a processor; and
the logic includes instructions stored in a storage medium of the processor.

18. A computing device comprising:
a circuit board;
an integrated circuit (IC) die coupled with the circuit board, the IC die including:
circuitry to generate heat when in operation;
a thermal sensor thermally coupled with the circuitry, the thermal sensor including a resonator to oscillate at a frequency corresponding with a temperature of the circuitry, wherein the resonator is disposed on an active side of the IC die, to operate in a first mode or a second mode, the resonator includes a copper plate, and wherein the copper plate includes one of a rectangle, a square, a polygon, a circular shape, an annular ring, or a combination of a polygon and a curved shape;
an actuation electrode disposed on the IC die to activate oscillation of the resonator to provide a first mode oscillation and a second mode oscillation;
an automatic level control (ALC) module, wherein the ALC module is to provide a level of gain for the first mode oscillation or the second mode oscillation; and
a thermal calibration module operatively coupled with the thermal sensor, to
calculate a first temperature of the IC die corresponding with a first frequency of the resonator in the first mode using a first equation,
calculate a second temperature of the IC die corresponding with a second frequency of the resonator in the second mode using a second equation, and
add an offset to the first equation or the second equation based on a result of a comparison of the first temperature and the second temperature.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Abdelmoneum Mohamed A
• Duarte David E
• Taylor Gregory F

Classifications

• G01K7/32

  using change of resonant frequency of a crystal · CPC title

• G01K7/00

  Measuring temperature based on the use of electric or magnetic elements directly sensitive to heat (giving results other than momentary value of temperature G01K3/00) {; Power supply therefor, e.g. using thermoelectric elements} · CPC title

• G01K15/005 Primary

  Calibration · CPC title