A Sub-500 mV Highly Efficient Active Rectifier for Energy Harvesting Applications

Author

Peters, Christian ; Handwerker, Jonas ; Maurath, Dominic ; Manoli, Yiannos

Author_Institution

Dept. of Microsyst. Eng. (IMTEK), Univ. of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

Volume

58

Issue

7

fYear

2011

fDate

7/1/2011 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1542

Lastpage

1550

Abstract

This paper presents a highly efficient, ultra-low-voltage active full wave rectifier. A two-stage concept is used including a first passive stage and only one active diode as second stage. A bulk-input comparator working in the subthreshold region is used to drive the switch of the active diode. The voltage drop over the rectifier is some tens of millivolt, which results in voltage and power efficiencies of over 90%. The design was successfully implemented in an 0.35 μm CMOS technology. The measured power consumption of the comparator is 266 nW@500 mV and the minimum operating voltage is 380 mV. Input voltages with frequencies up to 10 kHz can be rectified.

Keywords

AC-DC power convertors; CMOS integrated circuits; active networks; comparators (circuits); energy harvesting; rectifying circuits; AC-DC power conversion; CMOS technology; active diode; energy harvesting; highly efficient active rectifier; power 266 nW; power consumption; size 0.35 mum; ultralow-voltage active full wave rectifier; voltage 380 mV; voltage 500 mV; voltage drop; CMOS integrated circuits; Capacitors; Logic gates; Power demand; Switches; Threshold voltage; Transistors; AC-DC power conversion; active diode; active rectifier; energy harvesting; rectifier;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1549-8328

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TCSI.2011.2157739

Filename

5928364