900 MHZ radio‐frequency identification rectifier with optimization and reusing of electro‐static discharges protections in 180 nm digital CMOS technology

Sensitivity and electro-static discharges ESD protection level are crucial parameters for any Ultra High-Frequency UHF power rectifier-harvester designed for radio-frequency identification RFID devices. While sensitivity limits the reading range of the interrogator-to-tag communication link, the requirement for an adequate protection against ESD is enforced in commercial devices connected to a printed antenna. Both resistive and capacitive parasitics of the protection circuits severely affect RF performance of the device. In the paper, a rectifier for UHF RFID embedding an ESD protection for 2kV human-body discharge model HBM level is proposed. The target of a low added parasitic capacitance is achieved by adapting the protection circuit to the RFID rectifier and reusing the ESD clamp for additional functions being mandatory in a UHF RFID front end. The layout of the ESD clamp has been optimized for minimum parasitic resistance without sacrificing the protection level. Two UHF harvesters were implemented in a 180nm digital complementary metal-oxide semiconductor CMOS technology, featuring a minimum sensitivity of -15.5dBm with an ESD protection level of 2kV HBM. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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