US Patent 9148910 Method and apparatus for heating up integrated circuits

Aspects of the disclosure provide an integrated circuit (IC) chip that includes a heating element and a heating control circuit. The heating element is configured to be controllable to generate heat. The heating control circuit is configured to be operable when an IC chip temperature is below a threshold. The heating control circuit is configured to receive a signal indicative of a sensed temperature and control the heating element to generate heat to raise the IC chip temperature when the sensed temperature is below the threshold.