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Temperature Sensor ICs Simplify Designs

When you set out to select a temperature sensor, you are no longer limited to either an analog output or a digital output device. There is now a broad selection of sensor types, one of which should match your system's needs.

Until recently, all the temperature sensors on the market provided analog outputs.

Thermistors, RTDs, and thermocouples were followed by another analog-output device, the silicon temperature sensor. In most applications, unfortunately, these analog-output devices require a comparator, an ADC, or an amplifier at their output to make them useful.

Thus, when higher levels of integration became feasible, temperature sensors with digital interfaces became available. These ICs are sold in a variety of forms, from simple devices that signal when a specific temperature has been exceeded to those that report both remote and local temperatures while providing warnings at programmed temperature settings. The choice now isn't simply between analog-output and digital-output sensors; there is a broad range of sensor types from which to choose.

Classes of Temperature Sensors

Four temperature-sensor types are illustrated in Figure 1. An ideal analog sensor provides an output voltage that is a perfectly linear function of temperature (A). In the digital I/O class of sensor (B), temperature data in the form of multiple 1s and 0s are passed to the microcontroller, often via a serial bus. Along the same bus, data are sent to the temperature sensor from the

microcontroller, usually to set the temperature limit at which the alert pin's digital output will trip. Alert interrupts the microcontroller when the temperature limit has been exceeded. This type of device can also provide fan control.

Figure 1. Sensor and IC manufacturers currently offer four classes of temperature sensors.

\OUT versus temperature curve is for an IC whose digital output switches when a specific temperature

has been exceeded. In this case, the \than a comparator and a voltage reference. Other types of \form of the delay time after the part has been strobed, or in the form of the frequency or the period of a square wave, which will be discussed later.

The system monitor (D) is the most complex IC of the four. In addition to the functions provided by the digital I/O type, this type of device commonly monitors the system supply

voltages, providing an alarm when voltages rise above or sink below limits set via the I/O bus. Fan monitoring and/or control is sometimes included in this type of IC. In some cases, this class of device is used to determine whether or not a fan is working. More complex versions control the fan as a function of one or more measured temperatures. The system monitor sensor is not discussed here but is briefly mentioned to give a complete picture of the types of temperature sensors available.

Analog-Output Temperature Sensors

Thermistors and silicon temperature sensors are widely used forms of analog-output

temperature sensors. Figure 2 clearly shows that when a linear relationship between voltage and temperature is needed, a silicon temperature sensor is a far better choice than a thermistor. Over a narrow temperature range, however, thermistors can provide reasonable linearity and good sensitivity. Many circuits originally constructed with thermistors have over time been updated using silicon temperature sensors.

Figure 2. The linearity of thermistors and silicon temperature sensors, two popular analog-output temperature detectors, is contrasted sharply.

Silicon temperature sensors come with different output scales and offsets. Some, for example,

are available with output transfer functions that are proportional to K, others to °C or °F. Some of the °C parts provide an offset so that negative temperatures can be monitored using a single-ended supply.

In most applications, the output of these devices is fed into a comparator or an A/D converter to convert the temperature data into a digital format. Despite the need for these additional devices,

thermistors and silicon temperature sensors continue to enjoy popularity due to low cost and convenience of use in many situations.

Digital I/O Temperature Sensors

About five years ago, a new type of temperature sensor was introduced. These devices include a digital interface that permits communication with a microcontroller. The interface is usually an I2C or SMBus serial bus, but other serial interfaces such as SPI are common. In addition to reporting temperature readings to the microcontroller, the interface also receives instructions from the microcontroller. Those instructions are often temperature limits, which, if exceeded, activate a digital signal on the temperature sensor IC that interrupts the microcontroller. The microcontroller is then able to adjust fan speed or back off the speed of a microprocessor, for example, to keep temperature under control.

This type of device is available with a wide variety of features, among them, remote

temperature sensing. To enable remote sensing, most high-performance CPUs include an on-chip transistor that provides a voltage analog of the temperature. (Only one of the transistor's two p-n junctions is used.) Figure 3 shows a remote CPU being monitored using this technique. Other applications utilize a discrete transistor to perform the same function.

Figure 3. A user-programmable temperature sensor monitors the temperature of a remote CPU's on-chip p-n junction.

Another important feature found on some of these types of sensors (including the sensor

shown in Figure 3) is the ability to interrupt a microcontroller when the measured temperature falls outside a range bounded by high and low limits. On other sensors, an interrupt is generated when the measured temperature exceeds either a high or a low temperature threshold (i.e., not both). For the sensor in Figure 3, those limits are transmitted to the temperature sensor via the SMBus interface. If the temperature moves above or below the circumscribed range, the alert signal interrupts the processor.

Pictured in Figure 4 is a similar device. Instead of monitoring one p-n junction, however, it monitors four junctions and its own internal temperature. Because Maxim's MAX1668 consumes a small amount of power, its internal temperature is close to the ambient temperature. Measuring the ambient temperature gives an indication as to whether or not the system fan is operating properly.