A 0.0014 mm2 150 nW CMOS Temperature Sensor with Nonlinearity Characterization and Calibration for the −60 to +40 °C Measurement Range

Abstract

This work presents a complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) ultra-low power temperature sensor chip for cold chain applications with temperatures down to −60 °C. The sensor chip is composed of a temperature-to-current converter to generate a current proportional to the absolute temperature (PTAT), a current controlled oscillator to convert the current to a frequency signal, and a counter as the frequency-to-digital converter. Unlike the conventional linear error calibration method, the nonlinear error of the PTAT current under the low temperature range is fully characterized based on the device model files provided by the foundry. Simulation has been performed, which clearly shows the nonlinear model is much more accurate than the linear model. A nonlinear error calibration method, which requires only two-point calibration, is then proposed. The temperature sensor chip has been designed and fabricated in a 0.13 μm CMOS process, with a total active die area of 0.0014 mm2. The sensor only draws a 140 nA current from a 1.1 V supply, with the key transistors working in the deep subthreshold region. Measurement results show that the proposed nonlinear calibration can decrease the measurement error from −0.9 to +1.1 °C for the measurement range of −60 to +40 °C, in comparison with the error of −1.8 to +5.3 °C using the conventional linear error calibration.