IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers

In this paper, we exploit an idea of coupling multiple oscillators to reduce phase noise (PN) to beyond the limit of what has been practically achievable so far in a bulk CMOS technology. We then apply it to demonstrate for the first time an RF oscillator that meets the most stringent PN requirements of cellular basestation receivers while abiding by the process technology reliability rules. The o... View full abstract»

This paper proposes a solution to the present bulky external capacitor low-dropout (LDO) voltage regulators with an external capacitorless LDO architecture. The large external capacitor used in typical LDOs is removed allowing for greater power system integration for system-on-chip (SoC) applications. A compensation scheme is presented that provides both a fast transient response and full range al... View full abstract»

This paper proposes a fully differential 10-bit energy efficient successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) by using incremental converting method. The voltage difference of the input between two successive samples is acquired and resolved. A judge window is properly designed, and several conversion steps of significant bits could be skipped when the voltage differen... View full abstract»

In this paper, a basic cell for low-power and/or low-voltage operation is identified. It is evidenced how different versions of this cell, coined as "flipped voltage follower (FVF)" have been used in the past for many applications. A detailed classification of basic topologies derived from the FVF is given. In addition, a comprehensive list of recently proposed low-voltage/low-power CMOS circuits ... View full abstract»

Millimeter-sized and low-cost sensor nodes can enable future applications of the Internet of Things (IoT), for which the number of sensors is projected to grow to a trillion within the next decades. RF far-field power transfer is a potential technique for wirelessly powering these sensors since it offers flexible configuration of sensor networks, beamforming capability and a large power transfer r... View full abstract»

An asynchronous successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for sensor applications is presented. High linear and power efficient switching scheme is proposed. The proposed low leakage latched dynamic cell in SAR logic and wide range configurable delay element extend the flexibility of speed and resolution tradeoff. The ADC fabricated in 0.18 μm CMOS process co... View full abstract»

Energy loss due to top/bottom plate parasitic capacitances is one of the factors determining the efficiency of integrated switched capacitor DC/DC converters. This loss is particularly significant when MOS gate or deep trench capacitors are used. We propose a technique for top/bottom-plate charge recycling that can be applied with low overhead independently of the converter architecture. Two examp... View full abstract»

A disturbance observer-based control (DOBC) approach is proposed in this paper for control design and qualitative robustness analysis of PWM-based DC-DC buck power converters. A disturbance compensation gain is constructed for the composite control algorithm to cancel the unmatched uncertainties in the output voltage channel. Rigorous criterion is provided to show the quantitative robustness betwe... View full abstract»

An ultra-low quiescent current output-capacitorless low-dropout (OCL-LDO) regulator with adaptive power transistors technique is presented in this paper. The proposed technique permits the regulator to transform itself between 2-stage and 3-stage cascaded topologies with respective power transistor, depending on the load current condition. As such, it enables the OCL-LDO regulator to achieve ultra... View full abstract»

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) can benefit non-volatility and high-performance by exploiting Resistive Random Access Memories (RRAMs). In RRAM-based FPGAs, the memories do not only replace the SRAMs and store configurations, but they can also replace the transmission gates and propagate datapath signals. The high-performance achievable by RRAM-based FPGAs comes from the fact that the on-re... View full abstract»

Consider a weighted undirected graph and its corresponding Laplacian matrix, possibly augmented with additional diagonal elements corresponding to self-loops. The Kron reduction of this graph is again a graph whose Laplacian matrix is obtained by the Schur complement of the original Laplacian matrix with respect to a specified subset of nodes. The Kron reduction process is ubiquitous in classic ci... View full abstract»

This tutorial catalogues and analyzes previously reported CMOS low noise amplifier (LNA) linearization techniques. These techniques comprise eight categories: a) feedback; b) harmonic termination; c) optimum biasing; d) feedforward; e) derivative superposition (DS); f) IM2 injection; g) noise/distortion cancellation; and h) post-distortion. This paper also addresses broadband-LNA-linearization iss... View full abstract»

This paper presents a novel capacitor-less low-dropout regulator (LDO) for mobile applications. The proposed capacitor-less LDO utilizes multiple feedback loops to satisfy several design challenges for some mobile applications which were not considered in the previous capacitor-less LDOs. The proposed LDO has a wide bandwidth of 3.03 MHz at a load current of 150 mA with a bias current of 40 ;... View full abstract»

This paper presents an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) dedicated to neural recording systems. By using two continuous-time incremental sigma-delta ADCs in a pipeline configuration, the proposed ADC can achieve high-resolution without sacrificing the conversion rate. This two-step architecture is also power-efficient, as the resolution requirement for the incremental sigma-delta ADC in each step ... View full abstract»

The need for highly integrable and programmable analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) is pushing towards the use of dynamic regenerative comparators to maximize speed, power efficiency and reconfigurability. Comparator thermal noise is, however, a limiting factor for the achievable resolution of several ADC architectures with scaled supply voltages. While mismatch in these comparators can be compens... View full abstract»

This paper presents comprehensive analyses of power-performance tradeoffs in current-mode logic (CML)-based transmitters via equation-based optimization and provides practical design guidelines that can help achieving optimum power efficiency. An accurate equation-based optimization framework was developed for this purpose, and using this framework, key circuit-level design parameters were found w... View full abstract»

This paper presents a continuous-rate reference-less clock and data recovery (CDR) circuit that utilizes common-mode clock-embedded signaling (CM-CES) and injection locking techniques to reduce design complexity for the half-rate data recovery. In the proposed receiver, the use of wideband injection-locked oscillator (ILO) greatly suppresses its phase noise while the narrowband digital phase track... View full abstract»

This paper presents a 14.9-bit 3.57-MS/s algorithmic ADC that uses iterative gain enhancement, a technique that uses multiple clock phases to increase the effective op-amp gain in a switched-capacitor circuit. Using an op-amp that gives only 30-dB loop gain in a feedback circuit without gain enhancement, application of the iterative gain enhancement technique boosts the loop gain to 81 dB. The alg... View full abstract»

A digital-domain calibration method is proposed for a split-capacitor DAC (split-CDAC) used in a differential-type 11-bit SAR ADC. It calibrates the nonlinearities of SAR ADC due to the DAC capacitance mismatch as well as the two parasitic capacitances connected in parallel with each of the bridge capacitor and the LSB bank of split-CDAC. The proposed ADC does not require any additional analog cir... View full abstract»

Inductive coupling is a viable scheme to wirelessly energize devices with a wide range of power requirements from nanowatts in radio frequency identification tags to milliwatts in implantable microelectronic devices, watts in mobile electronics, and kilowatts in electric cars. Several analytical methods for estimating the power transfer efficiency (PTE) across inductive power transmission links ha... View full abstract»

The effects of resonator topology on the phase noise of LC oscillators are studied in this paper. It is shown that there is a neglected factor that can considerably influence the phase noise behavior of the oscillator. We designate this factor as the Inductance Energy Factor (IEF), which directly depends on the topology of the resonator. It is shown that through proper design of the resonator for ... View full abstract»

A two-stage fully differential CMOS amplifier comprising inverters as input structures and employing self-biasing techniques is presented. The proposed amplifier benefits from an optimum compensation through time-domain optimization which permits achieving high energy efficiency. Moreover, it achieves the highest efficiency of its class and although it relies on a quasi-class-A topology, it is com... View full abstract»

A stable low dropout (LDO) voltage regulator topology for low equivalent series resistance (ESR) capacitive loads is presented. The proposed scheme generates a zero internally instead of relying on the zero generated by the load capacitor and its ESR combination for stability. It is demonstrated that this scheme realizes robust frequency compensation, facilitates the use of multilayer ceramic capa... View full abstract»

An operational-transconductance-amplifier (OTA) design for ultra-low voltage ultra-low power applications is proposed. The input stage of the proposed OTA utilizes a bulk-driven pseudo-differential pair to allow minimum supply voltage while achieving a rail-to-rail input range. All the transistors in the proposed OTA operate in the subthreshold region. Using a novel self-biasing technique to bias ... View full abstract»

A CMOS power amplifier integrated circuit with an optimized dual-mode supply modulator is presented. The dual-mode supply modulator, based on a hybrid buck converter consisting of a wideband linear amplifier and a highly efficient switching amplifier, provides two operation modes: envelope tracking (ET) for high average output power and average power tracking (APT) for low output power. For the AP... View full abstract»

The performance of zero-IF receivers with current-driven passive mixers driven by 25% duty-cycle quadrature clocks is studied and analyzed. It is shown that, in general, these receivers outperform the ones that utilize passive mixers with 50% duty-cycle clocks. The known problems in receivers with 50% duty-cycle mixers, such as having unequal high- and low-side conversion gains, unexpected IIP2 an... View full abstract»

The design issues of a single-transistor-control (STC) low-drop-out (LDO) based on flipped voltage follower is discussed in this paper, in particular the feedback stability at different conditions of output capacitors, equivalent series resistances (ESRs) and load current. Based on the analysis, an STC LDO was implemented in a standard 0.35-mum MOS technology. It is proven experimentally that the ... View full abstract»

A maximum-power-point-tracking DC-DC boost converter to harvest energy from sub- μW power sources is presented. For available input-power levels below 1 μW, voltage boosting is achieved by operating all circuits in the sub-threshold region, and by switching the DC-DC converter at tens of Hz, thereby reducing switching losses. The paper further explores the possibility of energizing t... View full abstract»

For many years, wireless RF power transmission has been investigated as a viable method of power delivery in a wide array of applications, from high-power space solar power satellites to low-power wireless sensors. However, until recently, efficient application at the low sub-milliwatt power levels has not been realized due to limitations in available control circuitry. This paper presents a ... View full abstract»

This paper presents the analysis and design of a tunable CMOS delay gate with improved matching properties as compared with the commonly used “current starved inverter” (CSI). The main difference between these structures lies in the location of the current limiting transistor on the inverter's output rather than on the side of the power rail. This improves the dynamic performance of ... View full abstract»

Current-induced domain wall motion (CIDWM) is regarded as a promising way towards achieving emerging high-density, high-speed and low-power non-volatile devices. Racetrack memory is an attractive spintronic memory based on this phenomenon, which can store and transfer a series of data along a magnetic nanowire. However, storage capacity issue is always one of the most serious bottlenecks hindering... View full abstract»

This paper presents a tutorial overview of ΣΔ modulators, their operating principles and architectures, circuit errors and models, design methods, and practical issues. A review of the state of the art on nanometer CMOS implementations is described, giving a survey of cutting-edge ΣΔ architectures, with emphasis on their application to the next generation of wireless te... View full abstract»

This paper presents a 9-bit subrange analog-to-digital converter (ADC) consisting of a 3.5-bit flash coarse ADC, a 6-bit successive-approximation-register (SAR) fine ADC, and a differential segmented capacitive digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The flash ADC controls the thermometer coarse capacitors of the DAC and the SAR ADC controls the binary fine ones. Both theoretical analysis and behaviora... View full abstract»

Comparator power consumption is a major bottleneck to the power efficiency of a high resolution successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) used in low-power applications. This paper analyzes theoretically the optimal comparators that need to be used to achieve a desired overall performance at minimum power levels. A simple and accurate mathematical model of the SAR A... View full abstract»

In this paper, the state of the art in ultra-low power (ULP) VLSI design is presented within a unitary framework for the first time. A few general principles are first introduced to gain an insight into the design issues and the approaches that are specific to ULP systems, as well as to better understand the challenges that have to be faced in the foreseeable future. Intuitive understanding is acc... View full abstract»

There is an ever increasing demand for both function integration and improved performance in wireless communication devices. Therefore, the integration of efficient linearizing amplifying and bandpass filtering functions is proposed for the first time in this paper. A new Doherty amplifier configuration with attractive behaviors including bandpass filtering, wideband harmonic suppression, and enha... View full abstract»

This paper presents a 12-bit energy-efficient successive approximation register analog-to-digital converter (ADC). By incorporating the proposed capacitor-swapping technique, which eliminates the problematic MSB mismatch transition of a binary-weighted capacitor digital-to-analog converter, the 12-bit linearity of the ADC is achieved without increasing the capacitor size for improved matching. The... View full abstract»

A few simple switching structures, formed by either two capacitors and two-three diodes (C-switching), or two inductors and two-three diodes (L-switching) are proposed. These structures can be of two types: ldquostep-downrdquo and ldquostep-up.rdquo These blocks are inserted in classical converters: buck, boost, buck-boost, Cuk, Zeta, Sepic. The ldquostep-downrdquo C- or L-switching structures can... View full abstract»

A fully-integrated low-dropout regulator (LDO) with fast transient response and full spectrum power supply rejection (PSR) is proposed to provide a clean supply for noise-sensitive building blocks in wideband communication systems. With the proposed point-of-load LDO, chip-level high-frequency glitches are well attenuated, consequently the system performance is improved. A tri-loop LDO architectur... View full abstract»

An analysis of a novel single-ended Class-E mode with shunt capacitance and shunt filter with explicit derivation of the idealized optimum voltage and current waveforms and load-network parameters with their verification by frequency domain simulations with 50% duty ratio is presented. The ideal collector voltage and current waveforms demonstrate a possibility of 100% efficiency. The circuit desig... View full abstract»

The performance of direct-conversion IQ transmitters with 25% duty-cycle passive mixers is analyzed. The up-conversion transfer function is calculated and it is shown that due to lack of reverse isolation of the passive mixer, the high- and low-side conversion gains can be different. The contribution of thermal noise from mixer switches to the total output noise of the transmitter is formulated. I... View full abstract»

This paper presents a novel ultra-low voltage level shifter for fast and energy-efficient wide-range voltage conversion from sub-threshold to I/O voltage. By addressing the voltage drop and non-optimal feedback control in a state-of-the-art level shifter based on Wilson current mirror, the proposed level shifter with revised Wilson current mirror significantly improves the delay and power consumpt... View full abstract»

Wireless power transfer provides a safe and robust way for powering biomedical implants, where high efficiency is of great importance. A new wireless power transfer technique using optimal resonant load transformation is presented with significantly improved efficiency at the cost of only one additional chip inductor component. The optimal resonant load condition for the maximized power transfer e... View full abstract»

This work presents a millimeter-wave (mm-wave) dual-mode voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) topology with switchable coupled VCO-cores for wide frequency tuning range and low phase noise application. By taking advantage of the different parasitic capacitance of cross-coupled pair when the VCO-core operates in ON and OFF states, the dual-mode operation of VCO can be realized, and the oscillations ... View full abstract»

This paper presents a systematic analysis of integrated 3-level buck converters under both ideal and real conditions as a guidance for designing robust and fast 3-level buck converters. Under ideal conditions, the voltage conversion ratio, the output voltage ripple and, in particular, the system's loop-gain function are derived. Design considerations for real circuitry implementations of an... View full abstract»

A switching pMOS sense amplifier (SPSA) is proposed for high-speed single-ended static RAM sensing. By using the same pull-up pMOS transistor for sensing and precharging the bit-line, the performance is enhanced, and the power consumption is reduced. A keeper that compensates bit-line leakage is also employed, and a minimum operating voltage of 0.51 V is obtained. Compared to the previous dynamic ... View full abstract»

This paper presents a statistics-based digital background calibration technique for digital-to-analog converter (DAC) unit elements mismatch in pipelined analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The proposed calibration method continuously measures and digitally mitigates sub-DAC (SDAC) mismatch errors in background during the normal data-conversion operation. In this method, the probability density f... View full abstract»

This study presents a high-precision CMOS bandgap reference (BGR) circuit with low supply voltage. The proposed BGR circuit consists of two BGR cores and a curvature correction circuit, which includes a current mirror and a summing circuit. Two BGR cores adopt conventional structures with the curvature-down characteristics. A current-mirror circuit is proposed to implement one of the BGR cores to ... View full abstract»

This paper investigates phase noise mechanism in arrays of resonant LC oscillators. Such arrays represent today a promising solution for the generation of multi-phase signals needed in several advanced applications. The analysis presented in this paper relies on consolidated phase-domain macromodels as well as on the original concept of noise transfer function illustrated herein. The proposed anal... View full abstract»

A new current-mode bandgap reference circuit (BGR) which is capable of generating sub-1-V output voltage is presented. It has not only the lowest theoretical minimum current consumption among published current-mode BGRs, but also additional advantages of an inherent curvature-compensation function and not requiring NPN BJTs. The curvature-compensation is achieved by utilizing the exponential behav... View full abstract»