Design of an Embedded CMOS Temperature Sensor for Passive RFID Tag Chips

Abstract

This paper presents an ultra-low embedded power temperature sensor for passive RFID tags. The temperature sensor converts the temperature variation to a PTAT current, which is then transformed into a temperature-controlled frequency. A phase locked loop (PLL)-based sensor interface is employed to directly convert this temperature-controlled frequency into a corresponding digital output without an external reference clock. The fabricated sensor occupies an area of 0.021 mm2 using the TSMC 0.18 1P6M mixed-signal CMOS process. Measurement results of the embedded sensor within the tag system shows a 92 nW power dissipation under 1.0 V supply voltage at room temperature, with a sensing resolution of 0.15 °C/LSB and a sensing accuracy of −0.7/0.6 °C from −30 °C to 70 °C after 1-point calibration at 30 °C.

Keywords

• temperature sensor
• RFID tag
• CMOS process
• phase-locked loop