Low-voltage low VDD sensitivity relaxation oscillator for passive wireless microsystems

A low-voltage relaxation oscillator for passive wireless microsystems is proposed. The oscillator employs a current pulse generator to generate effective hysteresis for oscillation without using a Schmitt trigger, avoiding the drawback of the high sensitivity of the frequency of Schmitt trigger relaxation oscillators to supply voltage fluctuation. The proposed oscillator has been implemented in TSMC-0.18 mum 1.8 V six-metal one-poly CMOS technology. The performance of the oscillator is validated using measurement results.