Patent ID: 8274021

Claim:
An integrated temperature regulator, comprising: a substrate having a surface; a temperature sensing circuit constructed on said surface, said temperature sensing circuit configured to sense a temperature in the vicinity of said substrate and to generate a temperature signal representative of said temperature; a temperature reference circuit constructed on said surface, said temperature reference circuit configured to generate a temperature-independent reference signal; a temperature control circuit constructed on said surface, said temperature control circuit in electrical communication with said temperature sensing circuit and said temperature reference circuit, said temperature control circuit configured to calculate and amplify a temperature difference between said temperature-independent reference signal and said temperature signal, and configured to provide as output a heater drive signal based at least in part on said calculated difference; and an electrical-thermal feedback loop comprising a heater and a reaction chamber, said electrical-thermal feedback loop configured to provide a thermal signal from said heater and said reaction chamber to said temperature sensing circuit, said heater and said reaction chamber configured to provide a thermal environment and a reaction environment, respectively, for a chemical or a biochemical reaction of interest.