Review of Charge Pump Topologies for Micro Energy Harvesting Systems

This paper reviews CMOS based charge pump topologies used within autonomous embedded micro-systems. These charge pump structures have evolved from its simplistic diode-tied, single-branches with major threshold drops to exponential type, dual-branches with sophisticated gate and substrate control for lower voltage operation. Published charge pumps are grouped based on architecture, operation principles and pump optimization techniques with their pros and cons compared and results contrasted. The various charge pump topologies and schemes used are considered based on pumping efficiency, power efficiency, charge transferability, circuit complexity, pumping capacitors, form factor and minimum supply voltages with an optimum load. This article concludes with an overview of suitable techniques and recommendations that will aid a designer in selecting the most suitable charge pump topology especially for low ambient micro energy harvesting applications.

[1]  Stefano Gregori,et al.  A pMOS-based double-ladder integrated charge pump for standard process , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

[2]  Chi-Ying Tsui,et al.  Gate control strategies for high efficiency charge pumps , 2005, 2005 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

[3]  Fumio Ueno,et al.  Emergency power supply for small computer systems , 1991, 1991., IEEE International Sympoisum on Circuits and Systems.

[4]  Fernando Silveira,et al.  A series-parallel switched capacitor step-up DC-DC converter and its gate-control circuits for over the supply rail switches , 2014, 2014 IEEE 5th Latin American Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

[5]  G. Cho,et al.  A 40 mV Transformer-Reuse Self-Startup Boost Converter With MPPT Control for Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting , 2012, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[6]  S. Yamada,et al.  A 16-Mb flash EEPROM with a new self-data-refresh scheme for a sector erase operation , 1994 .

[7]  Jieh-Tsorng Wu,et al.  MOS charge pumps for low-voltage operation , 1998, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[8]  P. Susthitha Menon,et al.  Comparison of CMOS rectifiers for micropower energy harvesters , 2015, 2015 IEEE Conference on Energy Conversion (CENCON).

[9]  Anantha Chandrakasan,et al.  Platform architecture for solar, thermal and vibration energy combining with MPPT and single inductor , 2011, 2011 Symposium on VLSI Circuits - Digest of Technical Papers.

[10]  F. Luo.  Switched-Capacitorized DC/DC Converters , 2009, 2009 4th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications.

[11]  Saibal Mukhopadhyay,et al.  A Wide Conversion Ratio, Extended Input 3.5-μA Boost Regulator With 82% Efficiency for Low-Voltage Energy Harvesting , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[12]  Tapan Samaddar,et al.  Charge pump circuit design , 2006 .

[13]  Daniel W. Hart,et al.  Power Electronics , 2010 .

[14]  Ronak Amin,et al.  DC-DC Boost Converter , 2015 .

[15]  S. Yamada,et al.  A 5-V-only operation 0.6- mu m flash EEPROM with row decoder scheme in triple-well structure , 1992 .

[16]  M. Pasotti,et al.  Power efficient charge pump in deep submicron standard CMOS technology , 2003, Proceedings of the 27th European Solid-State Circuits Conference.

[17]  Youngoo Yang,et al.  CMOS Startup Charge Pump With Body Bias and Backward Control for Energy Harvesting Step-Up Converters , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers.

[18]  A. Cabrini,et al.  A discussion on exponential-gain charge pump , 2007, 2007 18th European Conference on Circuit Theory and Design.

[19]  Hui Shao,et al.  A charge based computation system and control strategy for energy harvesting applications , 2006, 2006 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

[20]  Md Shabiul Islam,et al.  Modelling of hybrid energy harvester with DC-DC boost converter using arbitary input sources for ultra-low-power micro-devices , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Conference on Semiconductor Electronics (ICSE2014).

[21]  Lon-Kou Chang,et al.  An exponential-folds design of a charge pump styled DC/DC converter , 2004, 2004 IEEE 35th Annual Power Electronics Specialists Conference (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37551).

[22]  Lu Wang,et al.  30–300mV input, ultra-low power, self-startup DC-DC boost converter for energy harvesting system , 2012, 2012 IEEE Asia Pacific Conference on Circuits and Systems.

[23]  Dongsheng Ma,et al.  Design of reliable 2×VDD and 3×VDD series-parallel charge pumps in nanoscale CMOS , 2013, 2013 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS2013).

[24]  Don-Gey Liu,et al.  Improving the efficiency of mixed-structure charge pumps by the multi-phase technique , 2010, 2010 5th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications.

[25]  Nasser Masoumi,et al.  A Thermal Energy Harvesting Power Supply With an Internal Startup Circuit for Pacemakers , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems.

[26]  Stefano Gregori,et al.  Switch bootstrapping technique for voltage doublers and double charge pumps , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Symposium of Circuits and Systems (ISCAS).

[27]  Muhammad Adeel Ansari,et al.  Single clock charge pump designed in 0.35µm technology , 2011, Proceedings of the 18th International Conference Mixed Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems - MIXDES 2011.

[28]  Anantha Chandrakasan,et al.  23.2 A 1.1nW energy harvesting system with 544pW quiescent power for next-generation implants , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference Digest of Technical Papers (ISSCC).

[29]  Takayasu Sakurai,et al.  A 120-mV input, fully integrated dual-mode charge pump in 65-nm CMOS for thermoelectric energy harvester , 2012, 17th Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference.

[30]  Eiji Takeda,et al.  An experimental 1.5-V 64-Mb DRAM , 1991 .

[31]  Chulwoo Kim,et al.  A DC-DC boost converter with variation tolerant MPPT technique and efficient ZCS circuit for thermoelectric energy harvesting applications , 2014, 2014 19th Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference (ASP-DAC).

[32]  Gyu-Hyeong Cho,et al.  Power-efficient series-charge parallel-discharge charge pump circuit for LED drive , 2008, 2008 IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.

[33]  S.R. Sanders,et al.  Analysis and Optimization of Switched-Capacitor DC–DC Converters , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[34]  F. Pulvirenti,et al.  A 70 mΩ Intelligent High Side Switch with Full Diagnostics , 1995, ESSCIRC '95: Twenty-first European Solid-State Circuits Conference.

[35]  J. F. Dickson,et al.  On-chip high-voltage generation in MNOS integrated circuits using an improved voltage multiplier technique , 1976 .

[36]  Md. Shabiul Islam,et al.  Architecture of an ultra-low-power fully autonomous universal power conditioner of energy harvester for wireless sensor networks: A review , 2016 .

[37]  Hoi Lee,et al.  Gain-Enhanced Monolithic Charge Pump With Simultaneous Dynamic Gate and Substrate Control , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems.

[38]  Jeffrey A. Davis,et al.  The fundamental limit on binary switching energy for terascale integration (TSI) , 2000, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[39]  W. Weber,et al.  Charge sharing concept and new clocking scheme for power efficiency and electromagnetic emission improvement of boosted charge pumps , 2000, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[40]  Roy P. Paily,et al.  A strategy to enhance the output voltage of a charge pump circuit suitable for energy harvesting , 2013, 2013 Annual International Conference on Emerging Research Areas and 2013 International Conference on Microelectronics, Communications and Renewable Energy.

[41]  Marcio Bender Machado,et al.  On the Minimum Supply Voltage for MOSFET Oscillators , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers.

[42]  Philip K. T. Mok,et al.  Design of Transformer-Based Boost Converter for High Internal Resistance Energy Harvesting Sources With 21 mV Self-Startup Voltage and 74% Power Efficiency , 2014, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[43]  Takayasu Sakurai,et al.  0.18-V input charge pump with forward body biasing in startup circuit using 65nm CMOS , 2010, IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference 2010.

[44]  Sheng Liu,et al.  A 20-300mV transformer-based self-startup flyback converter with MPPT and ZCS control for thermoelectric energy harvesting , 2014, 2014 IEEE 57th International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS).

[45]  M. S. Makowski,et al.  Performance limits of switched-capacitor DC-DC converters , 1995, Proceedings of PESC '95 - Power Electronics Specialist Conference.

[46]  Hoi Lee,et al.  An efficiency-enhanced auto-reconfigurable 2x/3x SC charge pump for transcutaneous power transmission , 2009, 2009 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference.

[47]  Takayasu Sakurai,et al.  A 95mV-startup step-up converter with Vth-tuned oscillator by fixed-charge programming and capacitor pass-on scheme , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference.

[48]  D. Pappalardo,et al.  Charge Pump Circuits: An Overview on Design Strategies and Topologies , 2010, IEEE Circuits and Systems Magazine.

[49]  Anantha Chandrakasan,et al.  A Battery-Less Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting Interface Circuit With 35 mV Startup Voltage , 2010, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[50]  Ka-Ming Keung,et al.  A Novel Charge Recycling Design Scheme Based on Adiabatic Charge Pump , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems.

[51]  Massimo Alioto,et al.  “EChO” Reconfigurable Power Management Unit for Energy Reduction in Sleep-Active Transitions , 2013, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[52]  Yi-Chun Shih,et al.  An Inductorless DC–DC Converter for Energy Harvesting With a 1.2-$ \mu\hbox{W}$ Bandgap-Referenced Output Controller , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs.

[53]  L. F. New,et al.  A low ripple CMOS charge Pump for low-voltage application , 2012, 2012 4th International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced Systems (ICIAS2012).

[54]  Anantha Chandrakasan,et al.  A batteryless thermoelectric energy-harvesting interface circuit with 35mV startup voltage , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference - (ISSCC).

[55]  Yen Kheng Tan,et al.  Energy Harvesting Autonomous Sensor Systems: Design, Analysis, and Practical Implementation , 2013 .

[56]  Kai Strunz,et al.  A 20 mV Input Boost Converter With Efficient Digital Control for Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting , 2010, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[57]  Dongsheng Ma,et al.  Design and optimization of integrated low-voltage low-power monolithic CMOS charge pumps , 2008, 2008 International Symposium on Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion.

[58]  Anantha P. Chandrakasan,et al.  A 1.1 nW Energy-Harvesting System with 544 pW Quiescent Power for Next-Generation Implants , 2014, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[59]  Hoi Lee,et al.  An Efficiency-Enhanced Auto-Reconfigurable 2$\times$/3$\times$ SC Charge Pump for Transcutaneous Power Transmission , 2010, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[60]  Yan Li,et al.  A 34 MB/s MLC Write Throughput 16 Gb NAND With All Bit Line Architecture on 56 nm Technology , 2009, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[61]  Fang Lin Luo,et al.  Power electronics , 2010 .

[62]  Kaushik Roy,et al.  Efficient power conversion for ultra low voltage micro scale energy transducers , 2010, 2010 Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference & Exhibition (DATE 2010).

[63]  Fernando Silveira,et al.  A series–parallel switched capacitor step-up DC–DC converter and its gate-control circuits for over the supply rail switches , 2014 .

[64]  C. Bender.  Capacitive ladder networks , 1994 .

[65]  Chulwoo Kim,et al.  A 0.15 V Input Energy Harvesting Charge Pump With Dynamic Body Biasing and Adaptive Dead-Time for Efficiency Improvement , 2014, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[66]  Saurav Bandyopadhyay.  Energy efficient control for power management circuits operating from nano-watts to watts , 2013 .

[67]  Zhihua Wang,et al.  Ultra-low-voltage low-power charge pump for solar energy harvesting systems , 2009, 2009 International Conference on Communications, Circuits and Systems.

[68]  Ken Takeuchi,et al.  Circuit techniques for a 1.8-V-only NAND flash memory , 2002, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[69]  Sigmond Singer,et al.  Capacitive Transposed Series-Parallel Topology With Fine Tuning Capabilities , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers.

[70]  F. Pulvirenti,et al.  A Monolithic Quad Line Driver for Industrial Applications , 1993, ESSCIRC '93: Nineteenth European Solid-State Circuits Conference.

[71]  Lon-Kou Chang,et al.  High efficiency MOS charge pumps based on exponential-gain structure with pumping gain increase circuits , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[72]  Stefano Gregori,et al.  A performance comparison of dickson and fibonacci charge pumps , 2009, 2009 European Conference on Circuit Theory and Design.

[73]  Liang-Hung Lu,et al.  50 mV-Input Batteryless Boost Converter for Thermal Energy Harvesting , 2013, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[74]  F. Pulvirenti,et al.  A 70 m/spl Omega/ intelligent high side switch with full diagnostics , 1996 .

[75]  Muhammad Shabiul Islam,et al.  A novel architecture of maximum power point tracking for Ultra-Low-Power based hybrid energy harvester in ubiquitous devices: A review , 2013 .

[76]  Xiao Bo Wu,et al.  Subthreshold voltage startup module for stepup DC-DC converter , 2010 .

[77]  B. J. Blalock,et al.  An ultra-low voltage self-startup charge pump for energy harvesting applications , 2012, 2012 IEEE 55th International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS).

[78]  Ming-Dou Ker,et al.  Design of charge pump circuit with consideration of gate-oxide reliability in low-voltage CMOS processes , 2006, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[79]  Takayasu Sakurai,et al.  An 80 mV Startup Dual-Mode Boost Converter by Charge-Pumped Pulse Generator and Threshold Voltage Tuned Oscillator With Hot Carrier Injection , 2012, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[80]  Don-Gey Liu,et al.  An efficiency enhance mixed-structure charge pump , 2009, Proceedings of the 2009 12th International Symposium on Integrated Circuits.

[81]  Kartikeya Mayaram,et al.  A Multiple-Input Boost Converter for Low-Power Energy Harvesting , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs.

[82]  Michel Declercq,et al.  A high-efficiency CMOS voltage doubler , 1998, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[83]  Akash Kumar Gupta,et al.  Power efficient reconfigurable charge pump for micro scale energy harvesting , 2013, 2013 IEEE Asia Pacific Conference on Postgraduate Research in Microelectronics and Electronics (PrimeAsia).

[84]  Dragan Maksimovic,et al.  Switched-capacitor DC-DC converters for low-power on-chip applications , 1999, 30th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference. Record. (Cat. No.99CH36321).