A Highly Efficient RF-DC Converter for Energy Harvesting Applications Using a Threshold Voltage Cancellation Scheme

In this paper, a self-threshold voltage (V-th) compensated Radio Frequency to Direct Current (RF-DC) converter operating at 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz is proposed for RF energy harvesting applications. The threshold voltage of the rectifying devices is compensated by the bias voltage generated by the auxiliary transistors and output DC voltage. The auxiliary transistors compensate the threshold voltage (V-th) of the PMOS rectifying device while the threshold voltage (V-th) of the NMOS rectifying device is compensated by the output DC voltage. The proposed RF-DC converter was implemented in 180 nm Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The experimental results show that the proposed design achieves better performance at both 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequencies in terms of PCE, output voltage, sensitivity, and effective area. The peak power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 38.5% at -12 dBm across a 1 M ohm load for 900 MHz frequency was achieved. Similarly, for 2.4 GHz frequency, the proposed circuit achieves a peak PCE of 26.5% at -6 dBm across a 1 M ohm load. The proposed RF-DC converter circuit shows a sensitivity of -20 dBm across a 1 M ohm load and produces a 1 V output DC voltage.

Automated summary

This paper presents a self-threshold voltage compensated RF-DC converter operating at 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz, achieving better performance in terms of PCE, output voltage, sensitivity, and effective area. The proposed design shows peak PCE of 38.5% at 900 MHz and 26.5% at 2.4 GHz across a 1 M ohm load, with a sensitivity of -20 dBm and 1 V output DC voltage.