A High Efficiency Low Noise RF-to-DC Converter Employing Gm-Boosting Envelope Detector and Offset Canceled Latch Comparator
This work presents a high efficiency RF-to-DC conversion circuit composed of an <i>LC</i>-<i>CL</i> balun-based <i>Gm</i>-boosting envelope detector, a low noise baseband amplifier, and an offset canceled latch comparator. It was designed to have high sensitivity...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-05-01
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| Series: | Electronics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/9/1078 |
| _version_ | 1797535452462317568 |
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| author | Thithuy Pham Dongmin Kim Seohyeong Jeong Junghyup Lee Donggu Im |
| author_facet | Thithuy Pham Dongmin Kim Seohyeong Jeong Junghyup Lee Donggu Im |
| author_sort | Thithuy Pham |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This work presents a high efficiency RF-to-DC conversion circuit composed of an <i>LC</i>-<i>CL</i> balun-based <i>Gm</i>-boosting envelope detector, a low noise baseband amplifier, and an offset canceled latch comparator. It was designed to have high sensitivity with low power consumption for wake-up receiver (WuRx) applications. The proposed envelope detector is based on a fully integrated inductively degenerated common-source amplifier with a series gate inductor. The <i>LC</i>-<i>CL</i> balun circuit is merged with the core of the envelope detector by sharing the on-chip gate and source inductors. The proposed technique doubles the transconductance of the input transistor of the envelope detector without any extra power consumption because the gate and source voltage on the input transistor operates in a differential mode. This results in a higher RF-to-DC conversion gain. In order to improve the sensitivity of the wake-up radio, the DC offset of the latch comparator circuit is canceled by controlling the body bias voltage of a pair of differential input transistors through a binary-weighted current source cell. In addition, the hysteresis characteristic is implemented in order to avoid unstable operation by the large noise at the compared signal. The hysteresis window is programmable by changing the channel width of the latch transistor. The low noise baseband amplifier amplifies the output signal of the envelope detector and transfers it into the comparator circuit with low noise. For the 2.4 GHz WuRx, the proposed envelope detector with no external matching components shows the simulated conversion gain of about 16.79 V/V when the input power is around the sensitivity of −60 dBm, and this is 1.7 times higher than that of the conventional envelope detector with the same current and load. The proposed RF-to-DC conversion circuit (WuRx) achieves a sensitivity of about −65.4 dBm based on 45% to 55% duty, dissipating a power of 22 μW from a 1.2 V supply voltage. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:44:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d1e7e087ac3f4449bf39a07c5e090854 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-9292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:44:40Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Electronics |
| spelling | doaj.art-d1e7e087ac3f4449bf39a07c5e0908542023-11-21T18:13:06ZengMDPI AGElectronics2079-92922021-05-01109107810.3390/electronics10091078A High Efficiency Low Noise RF-to-DC Converter Employing Gm-Boosting Envelope Detector and Offset Canceled Latch ComparatorThithuy Pham0Dongmin Kim1Seohyeong Jeong2Junghyup Lee3Donggu Im4Division of Electronic Engineering, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju-si 561-756, KoreaDivision of Electronic Engineering, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju-si 561-756, KoreaDivision of Electronic Engineering, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju-si 561-756, KoreaDepartment of Information and Communication Engineering, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu 42988, KoreaDivision of Electronic Engineering, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju-si 561-756, KoreaThis work presents a high efficiency RF-to-DC conversion circuit composed of an <i>LC</i>-<i>CL</i> balun-based <i>Gm</i>-boosting envelope detector, a low noise baseband amplifier, and an offset canceled latch comparator. It was designed to have high sensitivity with low power consumption for wake-up receiver (WuRx) applications. The proposed envelope detector is based on a fully integrated inductively degenerated common-source amplifier with a series gate inductor. The <i>LC</i>-<i>CL</i> balun circuit is merged with the core of the envelope detector by sharing the on-chip gate and source inductors. The proposed technique doubles the transconductance of the input transistor of the envelope detector without any extra power consumption because the gate and source voltage on the input transistor operates in a differential mode. This results in a higher RF-to-DC conversion gain. In order to improve the sensitivity of the wake-up radio, the DC offset of the latch comparator circuit is canceled by controlling the body bias voltage of a pair of differential input transistors through a binary-weighted current source cell. In addition, the hysteresis characteristic is implemented in order to avoid unstable operation by the large noise at the compared signal. The hysteresis window is programmable by changing the channel width of the latch transistor. The low noise baseband amplifier amplifies the output signal of the envelope detector and transfers it into the comparator circuit with low noise. For the 2.4 GHz WuRx, the proposed envelope detector with no external matching components shows the simulated conversion gain of about 16.79 V/V when the input power is around the sensitivity of −60 dBm, and this is 1.7 times higher than that of the conventional envelope detector with the same current and load. The proposed RF-to-DC conversion circuit (WuRx) achieves a sensitivity of about −65.4 dBm based on 45% to 55% duty, dissipating a power of 22 μW from a 1.2 V supply voltage.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/9/1078baseband amplifiercomparatorconversion gainenvelope detectorLC-CL balunoffset cancellation |
| spellingShingle | Thithuy Pham Dongmin Kim Seohyeong Jeong Junghyup Lee Donggu Im A High Efficiency Low Noise RF-to-DC Converter Employing Gm-Boosting Envelope Detector and Offset Canceled Latch Comparator Electronics baseband amplifier comparator conversion gain envelope detector LC-CL balun offset cancellation |
| title | A High Efficiency Low Noise RF-to-DC Converter Employing Gm-Boosting Envelope Detector and Offset Canceled Latch Comparator |
| title_full | A High Efficiency Low Noise RF-to-DC Converter Employing Gm-Boosting Envelope Detector and Offset Canceled Latch Comparator |
| title_fullStr | A High Efficiency Low Noise RF-to-DC Converter Employing Gm-Boosting Envelope Detector and Offset Canceled Latch Comparator |
| title_full_unstemmed | A High Efficiency Low Noise RF-to-DC Converter Employing Gm-Boosting Envelope Detector and Offset Canceled Latch Comparator |
| title_short | A High Efficiency Low Noise RF-to-DC Converter Employing Gm-Boosting Envelope Detector and Offset Canceled Latch Comparator |
| title_sort | high efficiency low noise rf to dc converter employing gm boosting envelope detector and offset canceled latch comparator |
| topic | baseband amplifier comparator conversion gain envelope detector LC-CL balun offset cancellation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/9/1078 |
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