A 800MHz, O.21pJ, 1.2V to 6V Level Shifter Using Thin Gate Oxide Devices in 65nm LSTP

Abstract

In this paper, a 20T high-speed wide voltage range level shifter using thin gate oxide devices is presented. The proposed circuit is realized to shift OV to 1.2V input signal to an output swing of OV to 6V. It ensures the safe operating area limit of thin gate devices in STMicroelectronics 65nm Low Standby Power (LSTP) triple well technology. The proposed design operates at 800MHz and has a low static power consumption of 112.91nW at 1.2V input. The proposed level shifter is variation tolerant and also works at input signals down to 0.5V. This enables wide voltage range operation in dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS). The total energy dissipation per transition is measured as 0.21pJ at a capacitive load of 35fF.