A 19nW, near-threshold to I/O voltage level shifter in 28nm FD-SOI using 1.8V/28Å device for IoT Systems

A Low-Standby-Power, high-speed general purpose level shifter for IoT (Internet-of-things) system is proposed. This level shifter was able to convert a low-voltage input of 0.45V into a high-voltage output range of 3.0V-3.6V. The measured static power from level shifter is 19nW at 25°C and area is 180 μm
²
. This level shifter was designed in 28nm FDSOI using 1.8V/28Å device and the maximum operating frequency was 10 MHz at a load of 5pF. The measured delay was 22ns at 25°C. Forward Back Biasing (FBB) and Reverse Back Biasing (RBB) technique, available in UTBB FD-SOI (Ultra-Thin Body and Box FD-SOI) are used to achieve maximum 10 MHz speed. A feedback mechanism and cascode architecture with analog biasing, are used to achieve ultra-low static power and electrical overstress (EOS) tolerant level shifting operation.