Patent ID: 7626799
Filing Date: 2009-12-01
Classification: G01K,G05F,H03F

Abstract:
1. A microelectronic device comprising: a first circuit; and a second circuit, coupled to the first circuit for selectively preventing operation of the first circuit in response to a device temperature rising above a shutdown threshold, wherein the second circuit includes a temperature responsive element, thermally coupled to the first circuit for providing a shutdown signal correlated to the device temperature; wherein the temperature responsive element comprises a reverse-biased junction element and the shutdown signal is correlated to a reverse leakage current of the reverse-biased junction element, further comprising a hysteresis circuit configured such that, when the first circuit is prevented from operating, the hysteresis circuit causes restoring operation of the first circuit being permitted conditional to the device temperature decreasing below a restore threshold, lower than the shutdown threshold, wherein the hysteresis circuit comprises an auxiliary current source feeding in parallel to the reverse-biased junction element and selectively activatable when the first circuit is prevented from operating.