Patent ID: 7902625

Claim:
An integrated circuit comprising: at least one thermocouple, comprising: a first conductor comprising a first material formed in direct contact on a thin oxide layer or a shallow trench isolation (STI) structure; a second conductor comprising a second material formed in direct contact on the thin oxide layer or the STI structure, the second conductor overlapping and in direct contact with the first conductor to form a thermocouple junction having a thickness that comprises the first conductor and the second conductor and which is of a dimension at least more than an alignment tolerance; and a conductive film formed in direct contact on the first conductor and the second conductor and a non-conductive void or film formed in direct contact on the thermocouple junction and extending beyond the thermocouple junction to edges of the first conductor and the second conductor by at least the alignment tolerance, wherein the thermocouple junction are formed by two different metals which have a non-zero Seebeck coefficient, wherein the film comprises polysilicon and the conductive film is doped polysilicon, and wherein the polysilicon covers the thermocouple junction and is nearly intrinsic above the junction.