A Wireless Power Conversion Chain With Fully On-Chip Automatic Resonance Tuning System for Biomedical Implants

Abstract

This paper presents a wireless power conversion system designed for biomedical implants, with integrated automatic resonance tuning. The automatic tuning mechanism improves power transfer efficiency (PTE) by finely tuning the resonant frequency of the power link and maximizing the rectified voltage. This adjustment ensures robust and reliable remote powering, even in the face of environmental changes and process variations, while also minimizing tissue exposure to power. On-chip switched array capacitors are connected in parallel with the resonant capacitor, and the system identifies the optimal switched capacitor combination for the highest rectified voltage by iterating over each of them. The proposed system is implemented and fabricated in standard 180nm CMOS technology, with a total area of 0.339 mm2, and its operation is verified. The measurement results demonstrate that this system provides tolerance up to mismatches equivalent to 75 pF capacitance variation in LC tank, ±15% LC variation in this design. The system offers a PTE enhancement from 9.1% to 30.2% in case of high LC variation, and the tuning control consumes 154.7 $\mu \text{W}$ of power during resonance tuning. Moreover, the power conversion chain delivers an optimized rectified voltage along with a regulated voltage of 1.8 V.