3) Route the DXP and DXN traces in parallel and in 
close proximity to each other, away from any higher 
voltage traces, such as 12VDC. Leakage currents 
from PC board contamination must be dealt with 
carefully since a 20MΩ leakage path from DXP to 
ground causes about 1°C error. If high-voltage traces 
are unavoidable, connect guard traces to GND on 
either side of the DXP-DXN traces (Figure 4).
4) Route through as few vias and crossunders as possible to minimize copper/solder thermocouple 
effects.
5) When introducing a thermocouple, make sure that 
both the DXP and the DXN paths have matching 
thermocouples. A copper-solder thermocouple 
exhibits 3µV/°C, and takes about 200µV of voltage 
error at DXP-DXN to cause a 1°C measurement 
error. Adding a few thermocouples causes a negligible error.
6) Use wide traces. Narrow traces are more inductive 
and tend to pick up radiated noise. The 10mil widths 
and spacing recommended in Figure 4 are not 
absolutely necessary, as they offer only a minor 
improvement in leakage and noise over narrow 
traces. Use wider traces when practical.
7) Add a 200Ω resistor in series with V
CC
for best noise
filtering (see Typical Operating Circuit).
8) Copper cannot be used as an EMI shield; only ferrous materials such as steel work well. Placing a 
copper ground plane between the DXP-DXN traces 
and traces carrying high-frequency noise signals 
does not help reduce EMI.
Twisted-Pair and Shielded Cables
Use a twisted-pair cable to connect the remote sensor 
for remote-sensor distance longer than 8in, or in very 
noisy environments. Twisted-pair cable lengths can be 
between 6ft and 12ft before noise introduces excessive
errors. For longer distances, the best solution is a 
shielded twisted pair like that used for audio microphones. For example, Belden 8451 works well for distances up to 100ft in a noisy environment. At the 
device, connect the twisted pair to DXP and DXN and 
the shield to GND. Leave the shield unconnected at the 
remote sensor.
For very long cable runs, the cable’s parasitic capacitance often provides noise filtering, so the 2200pF 
capacitor can often be removed or reduced in value. 
Cable resistance also affects remote-sensor accuracy. 
For every 1Ω of series resistance, the error is approximately 0.5°C. 
Thermal Mass and Self-Heating
When sensing local temperature, this device is intended 
to measure the temperature of the PC board to which it 
is soldered. The leads provide a good thermal path 
between the PC board traces and the die. Thermal conductivity between the die and the ambient air is poor by 
comparison, making air temperature measurements 
impractical. Because the thermal mass of the PC board 
is far greater than that of the MAX6649, the device 
follows temperature changes on the PC board with little 
or no perceivable delay.
When measuring the temperature of a CPU or other IC 
with an on-chip sense junction, thermal mass has virtually no effect; the measured temperature of the junction 
tracks the actual temperature within a conversion cycle. 
When measuring temperature with discrete remote sensors, smaller packages, such as SOT23s, yield the best 
thermal response times. Take care to account for thermal gradients between the heat source and the sensor, 
and ensure that stray air currents across the sensor 
package do not interfere with measurement accuracy. 
Self-heating does not significantly affect measurement 
accuracy. Remote-sensor self-heating due to the diode 
current source is negligible. For the local diode, the 
worst-case error occurs when autoconverting at the 
fastest rate and simultaneously sinking maximum current at the ALERT output. For example, with V
CC
=
5.0V, at a 4Hz conversion rate and with ALERT sinking 
1mA, the typical power dissipation is:
5.0V x 500µA + 0.4V x 1mA = 2.9mW
ø
J-A
for the 8-pin µMAX package is about +221°C/W, 
so assuming no copper PC board heat sinking, the 
resulting temperature rise is:
∆T = 2.9mW x +221°C/W = +0.6409°C
Even under nearly worst-case conditions, it is difficult to 
introduce a significant self-heating error.
MAX6649
+145°C Precision SMBus-Compatible Remote/
Local Sensor with Overtemperature Alarms
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