SLC: Split-control Level Converter for dense and stable wide-range voltage conversion

Ultra-low voltage design makes signal level conversion a critical component in modern low power designs. This paper proposes a static level converter operating in the subthreshold regime, called SLC (Split-control Level Converter). Using a novel circuit structure, SLC effectively eliminates the high leakage and short circuit currents in previous approaches. Designed for 300mV to 2.5V conversion and fabricated in 130nm CMOS, measured results show 2.3×, 9.9×, and 5.9× improvements over conventional DCVS structures in delay, static power, and energy per transition, respectively. Even with the smallest area among wide-range level converters, it also has 5.2× smaller standard deviation in delay and only 5.6% change in FO4 delay with 10% V_DDL drop, demonstrating robustness.