A highly linear single p-n junction temperature sensor

A temperature sensor based on the use of two forward-biased p-n junctions is known to exhibit good linearity. An alternative sensor configuration, based on the same principle, but employing only one p-n junction is presented in this paper. The forward current through the p-n junction is switched alternately between two fixed values, and the difference between the corresponding voltages is shown to vary linearly with temperature. This scheme eliminates the problems associated with close matching required for the two p-n junction sensors. Experimental results obtained with the proposed scheme are presented. A configuration to exploit the temperature dependence of the p-n junction incremental resistance is also presented