Abstract:
In this work, a capacitance-to-digital converter (CDC) suitable for direct energy harvesting is introduced. The nW peak power and the ability to operate at any supply vol...Show MoreMetadata
Abstract:
In this work, a capacitance-to-digital converter (CDC) suitable for direct energy harvesting is introduced. The nW peak power and the ability to operate at any supply voltage in the 0.3-1.8 V range allow complete suppression of any intermediate DC-DC conversion, and hence direct supply provision from the harvester, as demonstrated with a mm-scale solar cell. The proposed CDC architecture eliminates the need for any additional support circuitry, preserving true nW-power operation, and reducing design and integration effort. In detail, the architecture is based on a pair of double-swappable oscillators, and avoids the need for any voltage/current/frequency reference circuit in the oscillator mismatch compensation. The digital and differential nature of the architecture counteracts the effect of process/voltage/temperature variations. A load-agnostic one-time self-calibration scheme compensates mismatch, and can be run from boot to run stage of the chip lifecycle. The proposed self-calibration scheme suppresses any trimming or testing time for low-cost systems, and avoids any input capacitance disconnection requirement. A 180-nm testchip shows 7-bit ENOB down to 0.3 V and 1.37-nW total power, when powered by a 1-mm2 indoor solar cell down to 10 lux (i.e., late twilight).
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers ( Volume: 70, Issue: 4, April 2023)
Funding Agency:
Electrical, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering and Naval Architecture Department (DITEN), University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
Orazio Aiello (Senior Member, IEEE) received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees (cum laude) from the University of Catania, Italy, in 2005 and 2008, respectively, the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) from the Scuola Superiore di Catania, Italy, in 2009, and the Ph.D. degree from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, in 2013.
He was a Research Fellow at the Politecnico di Torino, in a Joint Project with FIAT-Chrysler Automobiles, Turin. He wa...Show More
Orazio Aiello (Senior Member, IEEE) received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees (cum laude) from the University of Catania, Italy, in 2005 and 2008, respectively, the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) from the Scuola Superiore di Catania, Italy, in 2009, and the Ph.D. degree from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, in 2013.
He was a Research Fellow at the Politecnico di Torino, in a Joint Project with FIAT-Chrysler Automobiles, Turin. He wa...View more
Department of Electronics and Telecommunications (DET), Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
Paolo Stefano Crovetti (Senior Member, IEEE) was born in Turin, Italy, in 1976. He received the Laurea (summa cum laude) and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineering from the Politecnico di Turin, Turin, in 2000 and 2003, respectively.
He is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications (DET), Politecnico di Torino. He has coauthored more than 80 articles appearing in journals an...Show More
Paolo Stefano Crovetti (Senior Member, IEEE) was born in Turin, Italy, in 1976. He received the Laurea (summa cum laude) and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineering from the Politecnico di Turin, Turin, in 2000 and 2003, respectively.
He is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications (DET), Politecnico di Torino. He has coauthored more than 80 articles appearing in journals an...View more
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Queenstown, Singapore
Massimo Alioto (Fellow, IEEE) is currently with the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National University of Singapore, where he leads the Green IC Group, and is the Director of the integrated circuits and embedded systems area, and the FD-fAbrICS Research Center. Previously, he held positions at the University of Siena, Intel Labs, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, University of California at Berke...Show More
Massimo Alioto (Fellow, IEEE) is currently with the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National University of Singapore, where he leads the Green IC Group, and is the Director of the integrated circuits and embedded systems area, and the FD-fAbrICS Research Center. Previously, he held positions at the University of Siena, Intel Labs, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, University of California at Berke...View more
Contents Electrical, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering and Naval Architecture Department (DITEN), University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
Orazio Aiello (Senior Member, IEEE) received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees (cum laude) from the University of Catania, Italy, in 2005 and 2008, respectively, the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) from the Scuola Superiore di Catania, Italy, in 2009, and the Ph.D. degree from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, in 2013.
He was a Research Fellow at the Politecnico di Torino, in a Joint Project with FIAT-Chrysler Automobiles, Turin. He was a Mixed Signal IC Designer and an EMC Consultant at STMicroelectronics, Castelletto, Italy, from 2008 to 2009, and at NXP-Semiconductors, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, in 2014. He was a Visiting Ph.D. Student at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, in 2013, and a Visiting Fellow with the University of Sydney and The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Since 2015, he has been working with the Green IC Group, National University of Singapore, where he has also been a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual and a Global Fellow. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the University of Genoa, Italy. His main research interests include energy-efficient analog-mixed signal circuits and sensor interfaces.
Dr. Aiello is a member of the IEEE CASS Microlearning AdHoc Committee. He is/was a Technical Program Committee Member of a number of conferences, such as NORCAS and APCCAS. He is an Associate Editor of IET Electronics Letters. He serves as a regular reviewer for several IEEE journals.
Orazio Aiello (Senior Member, IEEE) received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees (cum laude) from the University of Catania, Italy, in 2005 and 2008, respectively, the M.Sc. degree (cum laude) from the Scuola Superiore di Catania, Italy, in 2009, and the Ph.D. degree from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, in 2013.
He was a Research Fellow at the Politecnico di Torino, in a Joint Project with FIAT-Chrysler Automobiles, Turin. He was a Mixed Signal IC Designer and an EMC Consultant at STMicroelectronics, Castelletto, Italy, from 2008 to 2009, and at NXP-Semiconductors, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, in 2014. He was a Visiting Ph.D. Student at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, in 2013, and a Visiting Fellow with the University of Sydney and The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Since 2015, he has been working with the Green IC Group, National University of Singapore, where he has also been a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual and a Global Fellow. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the University of Genoa, Italy. His main research interests include energy-efficient analog-mixed signal circuits and sensor interfaces.
Dr. Aiello is a member of the IEEE CASS Microlearning AdHoc Committee. He is/was a Technical Program Committee Member of a number of conferences, such as NORCAS and APCCAS. He is an Associate Editor of IET Electronics Letters. He serves as a regular reviewer for several IEEE journals.View more
Department of Electronics and Telecommunications (DET), Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
Paolo Stefano Crovetti (Senior Member, IEEE) was born in Turin, Italy, in 1976. He received the Laurea (summa cum laude) and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineering from the Politecnico di Turin, Turin, in 2000 and 2003, respectively.
He is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications (DET), Politecnico di Torino. He has coauthored more than 80 articles appearing in journals and international conference proceedings. His recent research activities are focused on non-conventional information processing techniques allowing the fully digital implementations of analog functions and on ultra-low-power IC design for the Internet of Things (IoT) applications. His main research interests are in the fields of analog, mixed-signal, and power integrated circuits.
Prof. Crovetti is the Subject Editor-in-Chief of IET Electronics Letters in the area of circuits and systems. He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems. He serves as a regular reviewer for several IEEE journals.
Paolo Stefano Crovetti (Senior Member, IEEE) was born in Turin, Italy, in 1976. He received the Laurea (summa cum laude) and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineering from the Politecnico di Turin, Turin, in 2000 and 2003, respectively.
He is currently an Associate Professor with the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications (DET), Politecnico di Torino. He has coauthored more than 80 articles appearing in journals and international conference proceedings. His recent research activities are focused on non-conventional information processing techniques allowing the fully digital implementations of analog functions and on ultra-low-power IC design for the Internet of Things (IoT) applications. His main research interests are in the fields of analog, mixed-signal, and power integrated circuits.
Prof. Crovetti is the Subject Editor-in-Chief of IET Electronics Letters in the area of circuits and systems. He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems. He serves as a regular reviewer for several IEEE journals.View more
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Queenstown, Singapore
Massimo Alioto (Fellow, IEEE) is currently with the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National University of Singapore, where he leads the Green IC Group, and is the Director of the integrated circuits and embedded systems area, and the FD-fAbrICS Research Center. Previously, he held positions at the University of Siena, Intel Labs, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, University of California at Berkeley, and EPFL. He has authored or coauthored about 350 publications and six books, including Enabling the Internet of Things: From Circuits to Systems (Springer, 2017) and Adaptive Digital Circuits for Power-Performance Range Beyond Wide Voltage Scaling (Springer, 2020). His primary research interests include self-powered wireless integrated systems, near-threshold circuits, widely energy-scalable systems, data-driven integrated systems, and hardware-level security.
He is a member of the Board of Governors of the CAS Society from 2015 to 2020 and a TPC Member of the ISSCC and ASSCC. He is the Chair of the “VLSI Systems and Applications” Technical Committee. He is/was the Technical Program Chair in a number of conferences, such as ISCAS 2023, SOCC, ICECS, and NEWCAS. He is the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems and was the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems. He served as the Guest Editor for several IEEE journal special issues, such as IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems—I: Regular Papers, IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems, and IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems—II: Express Briefs. He is/was a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society (SSC) from 2020 to 2021 and CAS Society from 2022 to 2023 and from 2009 to 2010.
Massimo Alioto (Fellow, IEEE) is currently with the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National University of Singapore, where he leads the Green IC Group, and is the Director of the integrated circuits and embedded systems area, and the FD-fAbrICS Research Center. Previously, he held positions at the University of Siena, Intel Labs, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, University of California at Berkeley, and EPFL. He has authored or coauthored about 350 publications and six books, including Enabling the Internet of Things: From Circuits to Systems (Springer, 2017) and Adaptive Digital Circuits for Power-Performance Range Beyond Wide Voltage Scaling (Springer, 2020). His primary research interests include self-powered wireless integrated systems, near-threshold circuits, widely energy-scalable systems, data-driven integrated systems, and hardware-level security.
He is a member of the Board of Governors of the CAS Society from 2015 to 2020 and a TPC Member of the ISSCC and ASSCC. He is the Chair of the “VLSI Systems and Applications” Technical Committee. He is/was the Technical Program Chair in a number of conferences, such as ISCAS 2023, SOCC, ICECS, and NEWCAS. He is the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems and was the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems. He served as the Guest Editor for several IEEE journal special issues, such as IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems—I: Regular Papers, IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems, and IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems—II: Express Briefs. He is/was a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society (SSC) from 2020 to 2021 and CAS Society from 2022 to 2023 and from 2009 to 2010.View more
