RS trigger based relaxation oscillator for temperature measurement circuit

Resistance-to-time converter is always used for digital temperature measurement. An reset-set (RS) trigger based, relaxation oscillator based temperature measurement circuit, which is used to convert the change of thermistor sensor into a frequency signal for later processing, has been presented in this article. The RS trigger, which is composed of two inverters designed with distinct logical transition threshold voltages by changing the metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor gains, has the same function as the Schmitt trigger in the relaxation oscillator. The advantage of the RS trigger based Schmitt trigger is that it reduces the dependence to supply voltage, chip temperature, and process variation. This temperature measurement circuit has been applied in a clinical thermometer chip that can measure temperature to an accuracy of better than 0.05℃ down to 1.1 V battery voltage. It is fabricated in 0.5double metal single poly complementary MOS (CMOS) process.