Patent ID: 7010440

Claim:
A method for determining temperature of a device which exhibits an exponential relationship between temperature and a voltage in response to an excitation current, comprising the acts of: sequentially applying at least three excitation currents of different values to the device along a current path in a predetermined current sequence for sequentially exciting the device for developing successive voltage values across the device in response to the excitation currents; sensing successive voltages developed across two sensing nodes in the current path on opposite sides of the device in response to the excitation currents; and combining the differences of the successive sensed voltages for determining a voltage indicative of the temperature of the device; wherein, the predetermined current sequence is selected so that as the differences of the successive sensed voltages developed across the two sensing nodes in the current path are being combined, the cumulative effect, in the sensed voltages, of voltage components resulting from series resistance in the current path between the two sensing nodes through the device is minimised, and the number of times the device is subjected to excitation by the excitation currents during the predetermined current sequence is selected so that the effect of the voltage components resulting from the series resistance in the current path between the two sensing nodes in the determined voltage indicative of the temperature of the device is substantially eliminated.