An efficient fully integrated miniature rectenna in a standard CMOS SOI technology

Abstract

A fully-integrated rectenna operating at around 1 GHz with a total chip area of 0.43 mm is implemented in Global Foundries 45 nm CMOS SOI technology. The design is based on a miniaturized slot antenna integrated with a novel full-wave cross-coupled bridge rectifier, with very low leakage current. When excited by a 1.1 GHz horn antenna with an effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of ~ 30 dBm, the rectenna provides more than 50 μW of DC power and a rectified DC voltage of higher than 1 V at distances below 2 cm. Given the ample generated DC power, GHz operating frequency and small size of the circuit, this on-chip rectenna is suitable for miniaturized low-cost and battery-less implantable electronics and RFID tags.