Implementation of a Universal Micro-Sensor Interface Chip

摘要

This thesis presents the design and implementation of an interface circuit which provides the critical link between a microcontroller and a network of sensors in low-power microsystems. The chip implements an 11-line serial communication sensor bus optimized from an IEEE standard to include plug-n-play features and support multiplexed analog output signals. The interface circuit also includes 24 8b SRAM-style data registers, a 4-node SPI, an 8b I/O port, a 5b interrupt source management unit, a mixed-signal output signal multiplexer, an on-chip temperature sensor, and a variety of highly-programmable and self- testing sensor readout circuits. Significant features of this chip are low-power design including chip-level power management, single chip solution containing all necessary interface electronics and capable of network implementation, and the ability to interface with a very wide variety of capacitive, resistive, and potentiometric sensors and actuators. The design of this chip and its implementation in a 0.5 micrometer CMOS process are presented.