1 Introduction

Designing with space-grade integrated circuits (ICs) is a crucial component in developing reliable electronic systems for the challenging space environment. Space ICs require passing radation exposure to the system. When considering options for temperature sensing, space ICs provide a more integrated design that comes with verified radiation performance data. This article offers a comprehensive overview of the key information required to integrate a Texas Instruments (TI) Space Temperature Sensor into a system. There are three popular choices customers tend to use for a temperature design for a space system: temperature transducer, thermistor, and an IC/remote junction. A temperature transducer provides an output current proportional to absolute temperature. A thermistor is a temperature-sensitive resistor whose resistance changes significantly with temperature. A remote junction is a bipolar junction transistors (BJT) where the base-emitter voltage changes with temperature. In our TI temperature portfolio, the company sells IC temperature designs. Within the TI space portfolio there are remote temperature sensors. Remote temperature sensors provide digital temperature measurements from the local die and external channels that can connect to both PNP and NPN transistors. This setup allows for the measurement of multiple hotspots throughout the system using a single integrated circuit. Our remote sensors includes an integrated analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and the required biasing to accurately measure the temperature of external BJTs. Remote temperature sensors present a range of designs for various applications, and this document details the most common use cases. By the end of this article, the ease of embedding a remote temperature sensor into system architectures is clearly evident.