Thermal sensor with second-order temperature curvature correction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9016939-B2
Application number	US-201213632498-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 1, 2012
Priority date	Oct 1, 2012
Publication date	Apr 28, 2015
Grant date	Apr 28, 2015

Abstract

Some embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a stacked integrated chip structure having a thermal sensor that detects a temperature of one or a plurality of integrated chips. In some embodiments, the stacked integrated chip structure has a main integrated chip and a secondary integrated chip located on an interposer wafer. The main integrated chip has a reference voltage source that generates a bias current. The secondary integrated chip has a second thermal diode that receives the bias current and based thereupon generates a second thermal sensed voltage and a second reference voltage that is proportional to a temperature of the secondary integrated chip. A digital thermal sensor within the main integrated chip determines a temperature of the secondary integrated chip based upon as comparison of the second thermal sensed voltage and the reference voltage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A stacked integrated chip structure, comprising:
a main integrated chip, comprising a reference voltage source configured to generate a first reference voltage and a bias current;
a secondary integrated chip having a first thermal diode configured to receive the bias current and based thereupon to generate a second reference voltage and a first thermal sensed voltage that is proportional to a temperature of the secondary integrated chip;
a thermal sensor comprised within the main integrated chip and configured to generate an output signal corresponding to the temperature of the secondary integrated chip based upon the first thermal sensed voltage and the second reference voltage; and
an interposer substrate configured to provide interconnects between the main integrated chip and the secondary integrated chip.

2. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 1 , wherein the first thermal diode, comprises:
a resistor having a first terminal connected to the reference voltage source by way of the interconnects and a second terminal; and
a diode connected PNP transistor device having a first terminal connected to the second terminal of the resistor and a second terminal connected to ground,
wherein the second terminal of the resistor is configured to provide the first thermal sensed voltage and wherein the first terminal of the resistor is configured to provide the second reference voltage to the thermal sensor.

3. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 1 , wherein the main integrated chip is formed by a first integrated chip fabrication process and the secondary integrated chip is formed by a second integrated chip fabrication process different than the first integrated chip fabrication process.

4. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more additional integrated chips, located on the interposer substrate at a position laterally offset from the main integrated chip and the secondary integrated chip,
wherein the one or more additional integrated chip respectively comprise additional thermal diodes configured to receive the bias current and based thereupon to generate additional temperature independent reference voltages and additional thermal sensed voltages that are respectively proportional to a temperature of the one or more additional integrated chips.

5. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 1 , wherein the main integrated chip further comprises:
a first thermal diode configured to generate a second thermal sensed voltage that is proportional to a temperature of the main integrated chip,
wherein the thermal sensor is configured to determine a temperature of the main integrated chip based upon the second thermal sensed voltage and the first reference voltage.

6. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 5 , wherein the thermal sensor comprises:
a trimming element configured to receive the first or second thermal sensed voltages and the first or second reference voltages, to perform trimming to reduce a temperature coefficient of the first or second reference voltages, and to output a trimmed thermal sensed voltage and a trimmed reference voltage; and
an analog-to-digital converter configured to receive the trimmed thermal sensed voltage and reference voltage and to generate a digital output signal having a value proportional to the trimmed thermal sensed voltage divided by the trimmed reference voltage.

7. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 6 , wherein the first or second thermal sensed voltage and the first or second reference voltage, respectively have a substantially equal curvature such that the output signal has a mitigated temperature error.

8. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 6 , further comprising:
a first switching element configured to selectively provide the first thermal sensed voltage or the second thermal sensed voltage to the trimming element;
a second switching element configured to selectively provide the first reference voltage or the second reference voltage to the trimming element; and
a control element configured to generate one or more control signals that selectively operate the first switching element and the second switching element.

9. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 1 , wherein the reference voltage source comprises a bandgap reference circuit.

10. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 9 , wherein the bias current comprises a current proportional to absolute temperature.

11. A stacked integrated chip structure, comprising:
a main integrated chip located on an interposer substrate, comprising:
a reference voltage source configured to generate a first reference voltage and a bias current;
a first thermal diode configured to generate a first thermal sensed voltage that is proportional to a temperature of the main integrated chip;

a secondary integrated chip located on the interposer substrate and in communication with the main integrated chip by one or more interconnects within the interposer substrate, wherein the secondary integrated chip comprises:
a resistor having a first terminal configured to provide a second reference voltage and a second terminal connected to the reference voltage source by the one or more interconnects and configured to receive the bias current and to provide a second thermal sensed voltage;
a diode connected PNP transistor device having a first terminal connected to the second terminal of the resistor and a second terminal connected to ground; and

a thermal sensor comprised within the main integrated chip and configured to generate an output signal based upon the first thermal sensed voltage and the first reference voltage or the second thermal sensed voltage and the second reference voltage.

12. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 11 , wherein the main integrated chip is formed by a first integrated chip fabrication process and the secondary integrated chip is formed by a second integrated chip fabrication process different than the first integrated chip fabrication process.

13. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 11 , wherein the reference voltage source comprises a bandgap reference circuit.

14. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 13 , wherein the bias current comprises a current proportional to absolute temperature.

15. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 11 , wherein the thermal sensor comprises:
a trimming element configured to receive the first or second thermal sensed voltages and the first or second reference voltages, to perform trimming to reduce a temperature coefficient of the first or second reference voltages, and to output a trimmed thermal sensed voltage and a trimmed reference voltage; and
an analog-to-digital converter configured to receive the trimmed thermal sensed voltage and reference voltage and to generate a digital output signal therefrom.

16. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 15 ,
wherein the output signal is equal to the trimmed thermal sensed voltage divided by the trimmed reference voltage.

17. The stacked integrated chip structure of claim 15 , further comprising:
a first switching element configured to selectively provide the first thermal sensed voltage or the second thermal sensed voltage to the trimming element;
a second switching element configured to selectively provide the first reference voltage or the second reference voltage to the trimming element; and
a control element configured to generate one or more control signals that selectively operate the first swit

Assignees

• Chang Ching-Ho
• Huang Jui-Cheng
• Peng Yung-Chow
• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Chang Ching-Ho
• Huang Jui-Cheng
• Peng Yung-Chow

Classifications

• G01K7/01 Primary

  using semiconducting elements having PN junctions (G01K7/02, G01K7/16, G01K7/30 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01K15/005

  Calibration · CPC title