Electro-thermal characterization of a differential temperature sensor in a 65 nm CMOS IC: Applications to gain monitoring in RF amplifiers

Josep Altet (1) , José Luis Gonzalez (2) , Didac Gomez (1) , Xavier Perpiñà (3) , Wilfrid Claeys (4) , Stéphane Grauby (4) , Cedric Dufis (1) , Miquel Vellvehi (3) , Diego Mateo (1) , Ferran Reverter (1) , Stefan Dilhaire (4) , Xavier Jordà (3)

1 Electronic Engineering Department
2 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information
3 CNM - Centre Nacional de Microelectrònica
4 LOMA - Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d'Aquitaine

This paper reports on the design solutions and the different measurements we have done in order to characterize the thermal coupling and the performance of differential temperature sensors embedded in an integrated circuit implemented in a 65 nm CMOS technology. The on-chip temperature increases have been generated using diode-connected MOS transistors behaving as heat sources. Temperature measurements performed with the embedded sensor are corroborated with an infra-red camera and a laser interferometer used as thermometer. A 2 GHz linear power amplifier (PA) is as well embedded in the same silicon die. In this paper we show that temperature measurements performed with the embedded temperature sensor can be used to monitor the PA DC behavior and RF activity.

Mots clés: CMOS integratedcircuits; CMOS differential temperature sensors; Electro-thermal characterization; Thermal coupling characterization; IR camera measurements; Laser interferometer measurements

Domaines: Electronique

Josep Altet, José Luis Gonzalez, Didac Gomez, Xavier Perpiñà, Wilfrid Claeys, et al.. Electro-thermal characterization of a differential temperature sensor in a 65 nm CMOS IC: Applications to gain monitoring in RF amplifiers. Microelectronics Journal, 2014, 45 (5), pp.484-490. ⟨10.1016/j.mejo.2014.02.009⟩. ⟨hal-01058582⟩