Abstract-A new wake-up receiver (WuRx) designed in 0.13 µm CMOS process is hybrid-integrated with a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) RF resonator. While only consuming 166 nW of power (18.8 nW for the comparator and 147 nW for periphery), the WuRx is capable of detecting RF signals as weak as -60 dBm. In order to achieve this sensitivity, a passive voltage-boosting network comprised of a high quality factor (high-Q) piezoelectric MEMS resonator is utilized, in place of an inductor, to amplify the received voltages applied to a CMOS rectifier. The output of the rectifier is then applied to a low-power comparator used to set a logical bit that indicates when an RF signal has been detected. The trade-offs in designing the voltage boosting network are explained and an equation for the optimum number of rectifier stages is derived.
Abstract-A monolithic piezoelectric MEMS-CMOS resonant transformer that can be used in ultra-low-power high-efficiency RF sensing applications is presented for the first time. The MEMS-CMOS resonant transformer is based on a 59 MHz 2-port Aluminum Nitride (AlN) Contour Mode Resonator (CMR) bonded to a 0.18 µm NMOS-based rectifier for voltage boosting and RF-to-DC conversion. The integrated device is fabricated in a foundry-based process by conductive eutectic wafer bonding. To amplify the voltage, the AlN CMR is designed to attain a large quality factor (Q=900) and a relatively low dielectric capacitance (C0=1.51 pF) in relation to the number of rectifier stages (n=20). As a result, a ten-fold voltage gain MEMS-CMOS resonant transformer is demonstrated in this work.
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