Low-power switched-capacitor converter design techniques for small IoT systems

The small system size and low power level of recent small loT (Internet of Things) systems render a switched-capacitor power converter more favorable than a traditional inductive converter because of its easy integration on chip and control for low power output. This paper presents a number of low-power switched-capacitor techniques for solving challenges of a millimeter-scale real IoT system, including energy harvesting from a photovoltaic (PV) cell and voltage regulation from battery voltage to multiple system-required voltages. Efficient converter topologies and a regulation scheme realize efficient power conversion over a wide range of powers, including as low as several nanowatts.