An 80-mV-to-1.8-V Conversion-Range Low-Energy Level Shifter for Extremely Low-Voltage VLSIs

We present a low-power and low-energy level shifter (LS) circuit that can convert extremely low-voltage input into high-voltage output. The proposed LS consists of a preamplifier (pre-AMP) and an output latch. The pre-AMP employs a logic error correction circuit, which generates an operating current for the pre-AMP only when the logic levels of the input and output do not correspond. The pre-AMP generates complementary amplified signals, and the latch converts them into full-swing outputs. Measurement results demonstrated that the proposed LS fabricated in 0.18-μm CMOS technology was able to convert an extremely low-voltage input of 80 mV into a high-voltage output of 1.8 V. The energy of the proposed LS was 0.35 pJ, when the low supply voltage, high supply voltage, and input pulse frequency were 0.4 V, 1.8 V, and 10 kHz, respectively. The static power dissipation without input was 0.12 nW.