Patent ID: 6535053
Filing Date: 2003-03-18
Classification: G05F

Abstract:
A method for obtaining a temperature-independent voltage reference in an energy gap reference circuit arrangement using at least one bipolar transistor and voltage source, which method comprises the steps of:providing a resistor and connecting only a single bipolar transistor in series with said resistor, facultatively applying different voltages to said resistor, measuring said different voltages upstream and downstream of said resistor so as to obtain a plurality of measured voltages, providing an A/D converter and feeding said plurality of measured voltages to said A/D converter so as to obtain a plurality of digitalized voltage measurements, applying said plurality of digitalized voltage measurements to a computer for calculating the gain constant of said A/D converter, said gain constant being a value S, wherein s=-1-ln&it;â€ƒ&it;Ix+x+ln&it;â€ƒ&it;A+x&it;â€ƒ&it;ln&it;qd&it;â€ƒ&it;ln&it;â€ƒ&it;Ix&it;k+ln&it;â€ƒ&it;R-1+d&it;â€ƒ&it;ln&it;â€ƒ&it;Ix&it;UG+xwhere lnIx is the natural logarithm of the collector current measurement, x, q and A are constants, R is the resistance value and UG is the gap voltage of the bipolar transistor, andusing said gain constant for computer generating corrected voltage signal data which is read out of the computer.