New design of RF rectifier for passive UHF RFID transponders

A novel diode-connected MOS transistor for ultra-high-frequency (UHF) micro-power rectifiers was presented, and a high efficiency N-stage charge pump voltage rectifier based on this new diode-connected MOS transistor was designed and implemented. The new diode-connected MOS transistor and the rectifier are designed and fabricated in SMIC 0.18-μm 2P3M CMOS embedded EEPROM process. The structure design of the new diode achieved 315 mV turn-on voltage, and 415 nA reverse saturation leakage current. Compared with traditional rectifier, the rectifier using the presented diode-connected MOS has higher power conversion efficiency (PCE), higher output voltage and smaller ripple coefficient. When the RF input is a 900-MHz sinusoid signal with the amplitude ranging from 0.8 to 1.8 V, PCEs of the charge pump rectifier with only 3-stage are more than 30%, and the maximum output voltage is 5.02 V, and its ripple coefficients are less than 1%.     

High efficiency boost converter with variable output voltage using a self-reference comparator

This paper presents a boost converter with variable output voltage and a new maximum power point tracking (MPPT) scheme for biomedical applications. The variable output voltage feature facilitates its usage in a wide range of applications. This is achieved by means of a new low-power self-reference comparator. A new modified MPPT scheme is proposed which improves the efficiency by 10%. Also, to further increase the efficiency, a level converter circuit is used to lower the V_dd of the digital section. The low input voltage requirements allow operation from a thermoelectric generator powered by body heat. Using this approach, a thermoelectric energy harvesting circuit has been designed in a 180 nm CMOS technology. According to HSPICE Simulation results, the circuit operates from input voltages as low as 40 mV and generates output voltages ranging from 1 to 3 V. A maximum power of 138 μW can be obtained from the output of the boost converter which means that the maximum end-to-end efficiency is 52%.     

A novel current reference based on subthreshold MOSFETs with high PSRR

A novel current reference based on subthreshold MOSFETs with high power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) is presented. The proposed circuit takes full advantages of the I-V transconductance characteristics of MOSFET operating in the subthreshold region and the enhancement pre-regulator with the high gain negative feedback loop for the current reference core circuit. The proposed circuit, designed with the SMIC 0.18 μm standard CMOS logic process technology, exhibits a stable current of about 1.701 μA with much low temperature coefficient of 2.5×10⁻⁴ μA/°C in the temperature range of −40 to 150 °C at 1.5 V supply voltage, and also achieves a best PSRR over a broad frequency. The PSRR is about −126 dB at dc frequency and remains −92 dB at the frequency higher 1 MHz. The proposed circuit operates stably at the supply voltage higher 1.2 V and has good process compatibility.     

Low power and high gain current reuse LNA with modified input matching and inter-stage inductors

In this paper we present a fully integrated current reuse CMOS LNA (low noise amplifier) with modified input matching circuitry and inductive inter-stage architecture in 0.18 μm CMOS technology. To reduce the large spiral inductors that actually require larger surface area for their fabrication, two parallel LC circuits are used with two small spiral on-chip inductors. Using cascode configuration equipped by parallel inter-stage LCs, we achieved lower power consumption with higher power gain. In this configuration we used two cascoded transistors to have a good output swing suitable for low voltage technology compared to other current reuse configurations. This configuration provides better input matching, lower noise figure and more reverse isolation which is vital in LNA design. Complete analytical simulation of the circuit results in center frequency of 5.5 GHz, with 1.9 dB NF, 50 Ω input impedance, 1 GHz 3 dB power bandwidth, 20.5 dB power gain (S₂₁), high reverse isolation (S₁₂)<−48 dB, −18.5 dB input matching (S₁₁) and −21.3 dB output matching (S₂₂), while dissipating as low power as 2 mW at 1.8 V power supply.     

用于相变存储器的超低输出纹波2X/1.5X电荷泵

本文针对相变存储器编程驱动电路,提出了一种超低输出电压纹波的开关电容型电荷泵。该电荷泵可根据输入电压的不同,自适应工作在2X/1.5X升压模式之间,以获得更高的电源转换效率。相比于传统开关电容型电荷泵,在充电阶段泵电容被充电至预先设定的电压值Vo-VDD(Vo为预期的输出电压);放电阶段,泵电容串联在输入电压VDD与输出端,通过此方法将电荷泵输出端电压稳定在Vo,并有效的降低了由于电荷分享所造成的输出纹波。在中芯国际40nm标准CMOS工艺模型下,对电路进行了仿真验证,结果表明在输入电压为1.6-2.1V,输出2.5V电压,最大负载电流为10mA,输出电压纹波低于4mV,电源效率最高可达91%。     

A THD-reduction high-efficiency audio amplifier using inverter-based OTAs with filter-output feedback

This paper presents an integrated low-voltage THD-reduction high-efficiency class-D audio amplifier using inverter-based operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs). We propose a negative feedback loop which can compensate for external perturbations and improving output precision. The compensator increases the audio-frequency loop gain, and leads to a better rejection of audio-frequency disturbances. The use of inverter-based OTA and comparator provides low-voltage operation and low-power dissipation. The audio amplifier operates with a 1.5 V supply voltage with maximum power efficiency of 90%. The proposed class-D amplifier was implemented using a TSMC 0.18-μm 1P6M CMOS process, and the active chip area is 1.87 mm².     

Power performance and scalability study of AlGaAs/GaAs double-recessed pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistors on unthinned substrate for coplanar waveguide circuit applications

We have investigated the power performance and scalability of AlGaAs/GaAs Double-Recessed Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistors (DR-PHEMTs) at 10 GHz on an unthinned GaAs substrate for CoPlanar Waveguide (CPW) circuit applications. It was found that the output power varied linearly with the logarithm of the device’s gate width ranging from 200 to 1000 μm. It increased at a rate of 0.01 dB/μm. That worked out to a doubling of output power (or 3 dB) for every 300 μm increase in the gate width. Gain decreased at a rate of about 0.005 dB/μm while PAE generally improved when the gate width was increased. As for DC measurement, the maximum transconductance of the device was about 375 mS/mm at V_G = −0.5 V and V_DS = 3 V. The gate-drain breakdown voltage (BV_GD) measured was −20 V, defined at I_G = −1 mA/mm. The microwave performance of the devices was measured on-wafer using a load-pull system at a bias of V_G = −0.5 V and V_DS = 8 V. For a device with a gate width of 1 mm, its saturated CW output power, gain and PAE value at 10 GHz was 27.5 dBm (0.55 W), 8 dB and 48%, respectively. At this same set of bias conditions, the value of f_t and f_max was 40 and 80 GHz, respectively.     

PMOS-switching dual-path charge pump in standard twin-well CMOS technology

In this article a new charge pump circuit is presented, which is feasible for implementation with the standard twin-well CMOS process. The proposed charge pump employs PMOS-switching dual charge-transfer paths and a simple two-phase clock. Since charge transfer switches are fully turned ON during each half of the clock cycle, they transfer charges completely from the present stage to the next stage without suffering threshold voltage drop. During one clock cycle, the pump transfers charges twice through two pumping paths which are operating alternately. Test chips have been fabricated in a 0.35-μm twin-well CMOS process. The output voltage of a 4-stage charge pump with each pumping capacitor of 7.36 pF measures 6.7 V under a 1.5 V power supply and 20 MHz clock frequency. It can supply a maximum load current of about 180 μA. Although the proposed circuit exhibits somewhat inferior performances against triple-well charge pumps using additional mask and process steps, it shows at least 60% higher voltage gain at V _DD = 0.9 V, approximately 10% higher peak power efficiency at V _DD = 1.5 V, much larger output current drivability and faster initial output rising than traditional twin-well charge pumps. This new pumping efficient circuit is suitable for design applications with a low-cost standard twin-well CMOS process.     

Ultra low voltage, ultra low power low noise amplifier for 2 GHz applications

In this paper, a 0.29 V, 2 GHz CMOS low noise amplifier (LNA) intended for ultra low voltage and ultra low power applications is developed. The circuit is simulated in standard 0.18 μm CMOS MOSIS. A two-stage architecture is then used to simultaneously optimize the gain and noise performance. Using forward-body-biased, the proposed LNA can operate at 0.29 V supply voltage, successfully demonstrating the application potential of dynamic threshold voltage technology in the radio frequency region. The LNA provides a good gain of 26.25 dB, a noise figure of 2.202 dB, reverse isolation (S₁₂) of −59.04 dB, input return loss (S₁₁) of −122.66 dB and output return loss (S₂₂) of -11.61 dB, while consuming only 0.96mW dc power with an ultra low supply voltage of 0.29 V. To the best of authors’ knowledge this is the lowest voltage supply and the lowest power consumption CMOS LNA design reported for 2 GHz to date.     

Design of a high performance CMOS charge pump for phase-locked loop synthesizers

A new high performance charge pump circuit is designed and realized in 0.18μm CMOS process. A wide input ranged rail-to-rail operational amplifier and self-biasing cascode current mirror are used to enable the charge pump current to be well matched in a wide output voltage range.Furthermore,a method of adding a precharging current source is proposed to increase the initial charge current,which will speed up the settling time of CPPLLs.Test results show that the current mismatching can be less than 0.4%in the output voltage range of 0.4 to 1.7 V,with a charge pump current of 100μA and a precharging current of 70μA.The average power consumption of the charge pump in the locked condition is around 0.9 mW under a 1.8 V supply voltage.     

A dual-mode fast-transient average-current-mode buck converter without slope-compensation

A dual-mode fast-transient average-current-mode buck converter without slope-compensation is proposed in this paper. The benefits of the average-current-mode are fast-transient response, simple compensation design, and no requirement for slope-compensation, furthermore, that minimizes some power management problems, such as EMI, size, design complexity, and cost. Average-current-mode control employs two loop control methods, an inner loop for current and an outer one for voltage. The proposed buck converter using the current-sensing and average-current-mode control techniques can be stable even if the duty cycle is greater than 50%. Also, adaptively switch between pulse-width modulation (PWM) and pulse-frequency modulation (PFM) is operated with high conversion efficiency. Under light load condition, the proposed buck converter enters PFM mode to decrease the output ripple. Even more, switching PWM mode realizes a smooth transition under heavy load condition. Therefore, PFM is used to improve the efficiency at light load. Dual-mode buck converter has high conversion efficiency over a wide load conditions. The proposed buck converter has been fabricated with TSMC 0.35 μm CMOS 2P4M processes, the total chip area is 1.45×1.11 mm². Maximum output current is 450 mA at the output voltage 1.8 V. When the supply voltage is 3.6 V, the output voltage can be 0.8-2.8 V. Maximum transient response is less than 10 μs. Finally, the theoretical analysis is verified to be correct by simulations and experiments.     

A 1.0 V power supply, 9.3 GB/s write speed, Single-Cell Self-Boost program scheme for high performance ferroelectric NAND flash SSD

A Single-Cell Self-Boost (SCSB) program scheme is proposed to achieve a 1.0 V power supply operation in Ferroelectric (Fe-) NAND flash memories. The proposed SCSB scheme only self-boosts the channel voltage of the cell to which the program voltage V_PGM is applied in the program-inhibit NAND string. The program disturb is well suppressed at the 1.0 V power supply voltage in the proposed program scheme. The power consumption of the Fe-NAND at V_CC = 1.0 V decreases by 86% compared with the conventional floating gate (FG-) NAND at V_CC = 1.8 V without the degradation of the write speed. The number of NAND chips written simultaneously in Solid-State Drives (SSD) increases by 6.7 times and the 9.3 GB/s write throughput of the Fe-NAND SSD is achieved for an enterprise application.     

一种应用于锁相环的增益提高型电荷泵设计

采用0.18μm 1.8V CMOS工艺设计一种增益提高型电荷泵电路,利用增益提高技术和折叠式共源共栅电路实现充放电电流的匹配.该电荷泵结构可以很大程度地减小沟道长度调制效应的影响,使充放电电流在宽输出电压范围内实现精确匹配,同时具有结构简单的优点.仿真结果表明,电源电压1.8V时,电荷泵电流为600μA,在0.3～1.6V输出范围内电流失配为0.6μA,功耗为3mW.     

Voltage-to-frequency converter with high sensitivity using all-MOS voltage window comparator

A high-sensitivity voltage-to-frequency converter (VFC) using an all-MOS voltage window comparator is presented in this work. The circuit is composed of one voltage-to-current converter, one charge and discharge circuit, and one all-MOS voltage window comparator. The input voltage is converted into a current which in turn triggers the charge and discharge circuit, where a built-in capacitor is driven. The voltage window comparator monitors the variated voltage on the capacitor and generate an oscillated output of which the vibration frequency is linearly dependent to the input voltage. In this way, the worst-case linear range of the output frequency of the proposed VFC is 0-55.40 MHz verified by simulations given a 0-0.9 V input range. The physical measurement of the proposed VFC shows a 0-52.95 MHz output frequency given a 0-0.9 V input range. The error in linearity is better than 8.5% while the power dissipation is merely 0.218 mW.     

A 1.25 Gbps DC-coupled laser diode driver with VBE compensation technique

A 1.25 Gbps integrated laser diode driver (LDD) driving an edge-emitting laser has been designed and fabricated in 0.35 μm BiCMOS technology. The IC can provide independent bias current (5-100 mA) with automatic power control, and modulation current (4-85 mA) with temperature compensation adjustments to minimize the variation in extinction ratio. This paper proposed an unique modulation output driver configuration which is capable of DC-coupling a laser to the driver at +3.3 V supply voltage; and combined a V_BE compensation circuit, the IC can operate at a wide temperature range (−40 to 85 °C) for date rates up to 1.25 Gbps. V_BE compensation technique is used to compensate for variation in V_BE over the operating temperature range so as to minimize the variations in rise and fall time of modulation output over temperatures.     

Reduction of current mismatching in the switches-in-source CMOS charge pump

In this paper, the charge pump (CP) based on a switches-in-source architecture is to be improved by gain-boosting amplifiers for phase-locked loops (PLLs). In our design, two differential amplifiers were employed in this CP to reduce the effect of the channel length modulation in MOS transistors. As a result, the up and down currents will be rather independent of the output voltage transformed by the capacitive low pass filter (LPF). This circuit was implemented using TSMC 0.18-μm CMOS technology and was investigated at a power supply of 1.8 V. The measured mismatch was less than 1% for the output voltage ranging from 0.4 to 1.4 V. This result is lower than that of the dynamic current-matching CP with feedback tuning on the same architecture. A comparison will be presented and discussed.     

Low cost bulk-silicon CDMOS technology and enhanced dv/dt high voltage driver circuit for PDP data driver IC

In this paper, a 256-channel data driver IC for plasma display panels (PDPs) is proposed. A new low cost 0.5 μm bulk-silicon CDMOS (CMOS and DMOS) technology is developed, resulting in the improvement of input data frequency up to 120 MHz and reduction of die cost about 20% compared with the conventional one. A novel high voltage driver circuit is also presented to optimize dv/dt of the output signal from 1.2 to 0.2 V/ns. The proposed circuit can avoid unwanted turning on of the pLEDMOS transistors in output stage and cut down the power dissipation by 12% compared with the conventional one. The application results show rising and falling times of the output stage are 45 and 84 ns, respectively.     

A low power dissipation high-speed CMOS image sensor with column-parallel sigma–delta ADCs

A 60frames/s CMOS image sensor with column-parallel inverter-based sigma–delta (ΣΔ) ADCs is proposed in this paper. In order to improve the robustness of the inverter, instead of constant power supply, two buffers are designed to provide power supply for inverters. Instead of using of an operational amplifier, an inverter-based switch-capacitor (SC) circuit is adopted to low-voltage low-power ΣΔ modulator. Detailed analysis and design optimization are provided. Due to the use of the inverter-based ΣΔ ADCs, the conversion speed is improved while reducing the area and power consumption. The proposed CMOS image sensor has been fabricated with 0.18 μm CMOS process. The measurement results show that the random noise (RN) is 7e_rms⁻, the pixel conversion gain is 100 μV/e⁻. Since the measured full well capacity of the pixel is 25000e⁻, the CMOS image sensor achieves a 71 dB dynamic range (DR). The total power consumption at 60frame/s is 58.2 mW.     

Design of low power UWB LNA based on common source topology with current-reused technique

This paper presents two low power UWB LNAs with common source topology. The power reduction is achieved by the current-reused technique. The gain and noise enhancement of the proposed circuit is based on an output buffer which is used by a common source amplifier with shunt–shunt feedback. Chip1 is an adopted T-match input network of 50 Ω matching in the required band. Measurements show that the S₁₁ and S₂₂ are less than −10 dB, and the maximum amplifier gain S₂₁ gives 9.7 dB, and the noise figure is 4.2 dB, the IIP3 is −8.5 dBm, and the power consumption is 11 mW from 1.1 V supply voltage. The input matching of chip2 is adopted from a LC high pass filter and source degenerated inductor. The output buffer with the RC-feedback topology can improve the gain, increase the IIP3, restrain the noise, improve the noise figure and decrease the DC power dissipation. Measurements show 13.2 dB of power gain, 3.33 dB of noise figure, and the IIP3 is −3.3 dBm. It consumes 9.3 mW from 1.5 V supply voltage. These two chips are implemented in a 0.18 μm TSMC CMOS process.     

A high efficiency all-PMOS charge pump for 3D NAND flash memory

For 3D vertical NAND flash memory, the charge pump output load is much larger than that of the planar NAND, resulting in the performance degradation of the conventional Dickson charge pump. Therefore, a novel all PMOS charge pump with high voltage boosting efficiency, large driving capability and high power efficiency for 3D V-NAND has been proposed. In this circuit, the Pelliconi structure is used to enhance the driving capability, two auxiliary substrate bias PMOS transistors are added to mitigate the body effect, and the degradation of the output voltage and boost efficiency caused by the threshold voltage drop is eliminated by dynamic gate control structure. Simulated results show that the proposed charge pump circuit can achieve the maximum boost efficiency of 86% and power efficiency of 50%. The output voltage of the proposed 9 stages charge pump can exceed 2 V under 2 MHz clock frequency in 2X nm 3D V-NAND technology. Our results provide guidance for the peripheral circuit design of high density 3D V-NAND integration.