Advances in BJT-based temperature sensors by Prof. Kofi Makinwa

#Temperature #sensors #accuracy
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Bipolar junction transistor (BJT)-based temperature sensors have long been the standard for achieving high accuracy in integrated thermal sensing. Their operation relies on well-understood device physics, where proportional-to-absolute-temperature (PTAT) and/or complementary-to-absolute-temperature (CTAT) voltages provide a precise mapping to temperature. The classic switched-capacitor (SC) readout architecture enabled accuracies on the order of 60 mK, but its performance is limited by kT/C noise and its minimum supply voltage around 1.4 V.

This talk introduces new ideas that overcome the conventional energy efficiency limits. The capacitively biased diode (CBD) technique enables accurate biasing under supply voltages below 1 V, thereby expanding the applicability of BJT sensors to modern low-power systems. In addition, continuous-time (CT) readout architectures have emerged, which directly digitize IPTAT and ICTAT signals, eliminating kT/C noise concerns and improving energy efficiency. Together, these advances enable a significant step toward overcoming practical barriers and approaching the fundamental accuracy and efficiency limits of BJT-based temperature sensors.


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  • Gloriastrasse 35
  • Zurich, Switzerland
  • Switzerland 8092
  • Building: ETZ building
  • Room Number: E81
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  Speakers

Prof. Kofi Makinwa

Biography:

Kofi A. A. Makinwa (Fellow, IEEE) received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Nigeria, in 1985 and 1988, respectively, the M.E.E. degree from the Philips International Institute, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in 1989, and the Ph.D. degree from Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands, in 2004.

From 1989 to 1999, he was a Research Scientist with Philips Research Laboratories, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Since 1999, he has been at Delft University of Technology, where he is an Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Professor and the Head of the Microelectronics Department. His research interests include the design of mixed-signal circuits, sensor interfaces and smart sensors. This has led to 20+ books, 350+ technical papers, and 40+ patents.

Dr. Makinwa was the Analog Subcom chair of ISSCC from 2018 to 2021, and has served on the program committees of several other IEEE conferences. He has also been a distinguished lecturer of the Solid-State Circuits Society and an elected member of its Adcom. He is currently a member of the executive committee of the VLSI symposium and a co-chair of the Advances in Analog Circuit Design (AACD) workshop and the IEEE Sensor Interfaces Meeting (SIM). Dr. Makinwa is the co-recipient of 18 best paper awards, from the JSSC, ISSCC and VLSI symposium, among others. In 2023, at the 70th anniversary of ISSCC, he was recognized as its top contributing author, with 70+ papers. He is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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