On-Chip Timing, Voltage, and Current References

Apr 27, 2016

Various types of references are required in almost all electronic systems. They are typically the only always-on components on heavily duty-cyclecd sensor nodes and IoT devices, and thus dominate the overall power consumption. We are exploring novel circuit topologies to get rid of high static biasing power in conventional analog reference designs. We have demonstrated ultra-low-power MOS-based voltage and current references, and on-chip RC oscillators, achieving best-in-class figure of merits.

A CMOS relaxation oscillator with 0.84 pJ/cycle efficiency and 9.6 ppm/°C temperature stability [CICC19] (best student paper award finalist)

Trim-free MOS-based voltage and current references [ESSCIRC17], [VLSI16]

ULP Circuits and Systems

Related

Publications

Peiyu Chen, Dai Li, Zhanghao Yu, Qing Jin, Kaiyuan Yang. A 0.84pJ/cycle Wheatstone Bridge Based CMOS RC Oscillator with Reconfigurable Frequencies. 2019 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC), 2019.

Project Poster DOI

Qing Dong, Inhee Lee, Kaiyuan Yang, David Blaauw, Dennis Sylvester. A 1.02nW PMOS-Only, Trim-Free Current Reference with 282ppm/°C from -40°C to 120°C and 1.6% within-Wafer Inaccuracy. ESSCIRC 2017 - 43rd IEEE European Solid State Circuits Conference, 2017.

Project DOI

Qing Dong, Kaiyuan Yang, David Blaauw, Dennis Sylvester. A 114-pW PMOS-Only, Trim-Free Voltage Reference with 0.26% within-Wafer Inaccuracy for nW Systems. 2016 IEEE Symposium on VLSI Circuits (VLSI-Circuits), 2016.

Project DOI