Intersil, a world leader in the design and in the manufacture of high-performance analog semiconductors, has launched its ISL21400, a Programmable Temperature Slope Voltage Reference. It is not hard to find around voltage references with a fixed output voltage; moreover, there are many different types of temperature sensors.

So which is the originality in this devices? The ISL21400 combines a voltage reference and a temperature sensor allowing users to accurately compensate for temperature drifts by setting both the temperature slope and the DC voltage of its output. Because the performance of most analog circuits changes with temperature, very expensive components need to be used to reduce the impact of such temperature drift in higher performance systems. By the ISL21400 it is possible now to generate a compensation voltage that can really eliminate the drift of the system in the analog domain, allowing the use of lower cost components.

The voltage reference (VREF) and the temperature slope (VTS) are programmed via an I2C bus with 8 bits of resolution and stored on non volatile registers to avoid to lose the programmed settings when the ISL21400 is powered down. In this manner the need for software initialization at device power up is eliminated. Thanks to low supply current (200μA) and small package size (8 Ld MSOP) the ISL21400 is ideal for small battery operated systems.

Source: The Intersil ISL21400