A High-Sensitivity, Low-Power Dual-Band RF Energy Harvesting and Managing System for Bio-Potential Acquisition

Abstract

This paper proposes a high-sensitivity, low-power dual-band RF energy harvesting and managing system for bio-potential acquisition. The proposed dual-band RF energy harvester adopts the hybrid threshold voltage self-compensation technology and effectively improves the power conversion efficiency. A low-power voltage monitor is proposed to match the input power and the load power with the minimum current consumption. Moreover, the proposed power management unit (PMU) combines a voltage bootstrap circuit and a low-noise LDO to suppress the output ripple. The proposed chip was implemented in a 0.18-μm deep n-well CMOS process. The measured results show the dual-band RF energy harvester outputs a DC voltage of 1 V in two different frequency bands at the input power as low as -18.5 dBm. The PMU outputs stable DC voltages of 1 V and 1.8 V in working mode. In sleep mode, only the voltage monitor is working, and the average quiescent current is only 0.6 μA.