Efficient Wireless powering of single-chip systems

The demand for remotely powered single-chip systems is increasing every day. RFID tags, access cards, and wireless sensors are some examples. In this applications, the chip is connected to an external antenna (for example a coil) through which the power and data is received, and the data is transmitted. There are a number of reasons for trying to integrate also the antenna and produce monolithically integrated systems. For example, one can expect improvements in cost, reliability, and size. RF data transmission with on-chip antennas is a goal being pursued by several groups and will soon become a solved problem. However, powering through integrated antennas or coils is restricted to very short distances (a few centimeters). In this paper we present a new procedure to power a chip by placing an external resonator close to it.