Patent ID: 7634746

Claim:
A temperature compensated process corner estimation circuit for determining an appropriate process corner from a distribution of possible process corners for a die including the process corner estimation circuit, the process corner estimation circuit comprising: a clock generator circuit operable in response to an input current to generate a timing signal, the frequency of the timing signal depending upon the determined process corner of the die; a logic module operable to receive the timing signal from the clock generator circuit and output a signal in response thereto that corresponds to the determined process corner of the die; and a regulator circuit that provides the input current to the clock generator circuit, the input current being inversely proportional to the temperature of the die, the regulator circuit including (i) an operational amplifier that receives a reference voltage at its positive input; (ii) an MOS transistor having its gate connected to receive the output of the operational amplifier; (iii) a resistor having a positive temperature coefficient connected between the MOS transistor and a negative supply voltage, whereby the voltage across the resistor is fixed and the current flowing through the resistor is inversely proportional to the temperature of the die; and (iv) a current mirror that mirrors the current flowing through the resistor to the clock generator as the input current to the clock generator.