Temperature Sensors: PCB Guidelines for Surface Mount Devices

Texas Instruments

Published Date: 07/30/2017

Description

Power hungry electronic components such as CPUs, GPUs, or FPGAs, as well as voltage regulators heat up during operation. Some applications require ambient air temperature measurements while others need to measure the temperature of a nearby component on the PCB. Measuring ambient air temperature with a surface mount technology (SMT) device is challenging due to the thermal influence of other components within the system. In other systems, in which the temperature of a component needs to be measured, ambient air temperature can influence and degrade the measurement accuracy. The system designer needs to make certain design decisions regarding both package type and PCB layout when integrating a temperature sensor.

This application note provides recommendations to system designers and explains methods for improving the accuracy of the temperature point being measured. The Recommendations are provided both for air temperature measurements and for component temperature measurement. The report details layout techniques, device orientation, and best practices for mounting.