EP0432925A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Method and apparatus for sensing thermal stress in integrated circuits
Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp
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Filing: 1990-11-22
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2010-11-22
Abstract
Abstract An integrated semiconductor device of the type including a plurality of semiconductive devices integrated onto a common substrate wherein the conductivity, of said semiconductive devices inherently varies with temperature, comprising a thermal stress sensing circuit, said circuit having an input and an output, and being formed from at least some of said semiconductive devices that are interconnected in such a way as to amplify the inherent variance with temperature of the conductivity of said devices, characterized in that the input of the stress sensing circuit is connected to a fixed voltage source, and the voltage output of the said circuit varies with temperature, the output of the stress sensing circuit is connected to a control means that reduces power to the integrated semiconductor chip when the voltage output of the said stress sensing circuit reaches a selected level.
Inventors
- 👤 Stuart Paul Broadwater
- 👤 John Havlik
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-08 14:20
CPC Classifications
H; H02; H02H; H02H5/00; H02H5/04; H02H5/044; H10; H10D; H10D89/00; H10D89/60
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
150 words
An integrated semiconductor device of the type including a plurality of semiconductive devices integrated onto a common substrate wherein the conductivity of said semiconductive devices inherently varies with temperature, comprising a thermal stress sensing circuit (6), said circuit having an input (12) and an output (14), and being formed from at least some of said semiconductive devices that are interconnected in such a way as to amplify the inherent variance with temperature of the conductivity of said devices, characterized in that the input (12) of the stress sensing circuit (6) is connected to a fixed voltage source (4), and the voltage output (14) of the said circuit varies with temperature, and the output (14) of the stress sensing circuit (6) is connected to a control means (10) that reduces power to the integrated semiconductor chip when the voltage output of the said stress sensing circuit (6) reaches a selected level.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
150 words
An integrated semiconductor device of the type including a plurality of semiconductive devices integrated onto a common substrate wherein the conductivity of said semiconductive devices inherently varies with temperature, comprising a thermal stress sensing circuit (6), said circuit having an input (12) and an output (14), and being formed from at least some of said semiconductive devices that are interconnected in such a way as to amplify the inherent variance with temperature of the conductivity of said devices, characterized in that the input (12) of the stress sensing circuit (6) is connected to a fixed voltage source (4), and the voltage output (14) of the said circuit varies with temperature, and the output (14) of the stress sensing circuit (6) is connected to a control means (10) that reduces power to the integrated semiconductor chip when the voltage output of the said stress sensing circuit (6) reaches a selected level.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
36 words
A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the control means (10) operates to stop power to the integrated semiconductor device when the voltage output of the said stress sensing circuit (6) reaches a selected level.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
52 words
A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the control means comprises duty cycle control means for responding to the voltage output of the stress sensing circuit, said duty cycle control means operating to reduce the operating duty cycle of the integrated semiconductor device when the voltage output reaches a selected level.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
19 words
A device as claimed in claim 1, 2, 3, wherein the thermal stress sensing circuit comprises a transistor array.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
130 words
A device as claimed in claim 4 having a stacked plurality of field effect transistors (20, 36, 28), each transistor having a gate, drain and source terminal, the stack including a first transistor (20) and a last transistor (28), wherein the gate of each transistor is connected to a common reference voltage (4), the source of each transistor other than the last transistor is solely connected to the drain of one transistor other than the first transistor, the source (34) of the last transistor is connected to ground, and the drain (24) of the first transistor (20) is connected through a voltage pull-up means (8) to a voltage source, the output voltage of the thermal stress sensing circuit (6) being sensed at the drain (24) of the said first transistor.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
43 words
A device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, comprising alarm control means for responding to the voltage output of the stress sensing circuit (6) for controlling the actuation of an alarm when the said voltage output reaches a selected level.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
133 words
A thermal stress measurement system comprising an integrated semiconductor device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, and having a thermal responding means integral with the semiconductor device and arranged for varying a voltage in response to temperature changes, and voltage sensing means for sensing the voltage output of the thermal responding means and providing a signal responsive to said voltage output, wherein the signal provided by the said voltage sensing means provides an indication of the temperature on the integrated semiconductor device, and further comprising control means of or responding to the signal provided by the voltage sensing means, said control means operating to reduce or stop power to the integrated semiconductor device when the signal indicates that the temperature on the device is outside a defined operating range.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the voltage sensing means (10) comprises one or more logic gates (38, 40, 42, 44) which change their output voltage state in response to known input voltages.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
40 words
A system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the voltage sensing means comprises an analog-to-digital converter which senses the voltage produced by the thermal responding means and produces a digital signal representative of the temperature of the integrated semiconductor device.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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