A universal sensor interface chip design in 0.5μ CMOS process

This paper presents a universal sensor interface (USI) chip designed with a 0.5 μm standard CMOS process. The USI chip provides an interface between the physical sensors and the digital signal processing applications. With different kinds of analog front-end circuit implemented on-chip, it provides 16 modes for a wide range of sensors. Temperature compensation measurement can be carried out with a dedicated on-chip circuit. The basic measurement method used in USI distinguishes it from other sensor signal conditioning and converting methods. When achieving 16 bit accuracy for different modes, it occupies just 3.2 mm² in a 0.5 μm CMOS process.