A Design and Theoretical Analysis of a 145 mV to 1.2 V Single-Ended Level Converter Circuit for Ultra-Low Power Low Voltage ICs

Abstract

This paper presents an ultra-low swing level converter with integrated charge pumps that shows measured conversion in a 130-nm CMOS test chip from an input at a 145-mV swing to a 1.2-V output. Lowering the input allowable for a single-ended level converter supports energy harvesting systems that need to use very low voltages.

Keywords

• level converter
• charge pump
• subthreshold
• energy harvesting