CMOS Temperature Sensors: From Module Design to System Design

In a smart CMOS temperature sensor, the temperature information is converted to an electrical signal, such as voltage, current, or time delay, and then it is digitized by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Instead of categorizing sensors according to their sensing elements, this work introduces different CMOS temperature sensors based on their signal processing domains of the readout circuits. To design a suitable sensor for a specific application, two general design methodologies are also introduced with state-of-the-art examples. Depending on the applications, the corresponding types of the sensor and design methodology can be chosen to optimize the performance.