JAJSAR0B March 2007 – October 2017 LM95214
PRODUCTION DATA.
When a transistor is connected as a diode, the following relationship holds for variables VBE, T and IF:
where
In the active region, the –1 term is negligible and may be eliminated, yielding Equation 2
In Equation 2, η and IS are dependant upon the process that was used in the fabrication of the particular diode. By forcing two currents with a very controlled ratio(IF2 / IF1) and measuring the resulting voltage difference, it is possible to eliminate the IS term. Solving for the forward voltage difference yields the relationship:
Solving Equation 3 for temperature yields:
Equation 4 holds true when a diode connected transistor such as the MMBT3904 is used. When this diode equation is applied to an integrated diode such as a processor transistor with its collector tied to GND as shown in Figure 26 it will yield a wide non-ideality spread. This wide non-ideality spread is not due to true process variation but due to the fact that Equation 4 is an approximation.
Texas Instruments invented TruTherm beta cancellation technology that uses the transistor equation, Equation 5, which is a more accurate representation of the topology of the thermal diode found in some sub-micron FPGAs or processors.
Figure 26. Thermal Diode Current Paths
TruTherm technology can be found in the LM95234 four channel remote diode sensor that is pin and register compatible with the LM95214. The LM95214 does not support this technology.