Self-Biased 2.4 GHz CMOS RF-to-DC Converter with 80% Efficiency and −22.04 dBm Sensitivity for Wi-Fi Energy Harvesting

One of the significant disadvantages of RF energy harvesting is having a low power density in comparison to other ambient energy sources. The rectifier is the core of an RF energy harvesting system since it converts and boosts weak RF power to usable DC power. This study introduces a design of an efficiency enhanced RF-to-DC power converter with impedance matched to $\pmb{50}\ \Omega$. The circuit design is based on two circuit design architectures, namely: the fully cross-coupled rectifier and self-biased technique, and the combined with LC matching circuit to obtain high power conversion efficiency. The design simulation is implemented using 65 nm CMOS Technology process. The performance of the proposed circuit design has achieved a peak power conversion efficiency of 80% at −14.4 dBm with a minimum input power of −22.04 dBm at 2.4 GHz for a load resistance of 20 $\mathbf{k}\Omega$ and 10 pF load.