Novel baseband processor for ultra-low-power passive UHF RFID transponder

Nowadays Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transponders operating in UHF band are gaining popularity of applications for their low cost, long operating distance and high data rate. In this paper, a novel baseband processor for ultra-low-power passive UHF RFID transponder complying with ISO/IEC 18000-6B standard is presented. In order to reduce power consumption of the baseband processor, several practical low-power strategies such as multi-clock, power management and clock gating are introduced. The chip was designed in 0.18μm mixed-signal CMOS process, and the area of the proposed baseband processor is 0.60mm×0.21mm. Post simulation results show that the baseband processor dissipates only 0.963μW at 1.1V supply voltage and 720 kHz clock. The transponder chip has been taped-out for manufacturing.