An ultra low power integrated radio TX link supplied from a switched capacitor DC-DC converter in 65-nm CMOS achieving 2 Mbps

Abstract

This brief presents a highly integrated ultra-low-power Transmitter (TX) supplied from a high efficiency Switched Capacitor DC-DC (SC DC-DC) converter targeting the IEEE 802.15.6 standard for Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) applications. The transmitter is supplied from the SC DC-DC for a high global efficiency when the chip is supplied from a regular 1.2 V or higher supply. The transmitter generates the RF signal using an FBAR oscillator, which is integrated within the package. The chip is fabricated using standard 65 nm CMOS process from UMC. The TX achieves 34% global PA efficiency (42% drain efficiency) and 21% total chip efficiency (26% Radio only) at -9.5 dBm output power and consumes 538 uW.