A 50 mV Fully-Integrated Self-Startup Circuit for Thermal Energy Harvesting

Abstract

A fully-integrated self-startup circuit with ultra-low voltage for thermal energy harvesting is presented in this paper. The converter is composed of an enhanced swing LC oscillator and a charge pump with decreased equivalent input capacitance. The LC oscillator has ultra-low input voltage and high output voltage swing, and the charge pump has a fast charging speed and small equivalent input capacitance. This circuit is designed with 0.18[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m standard CMOS process. The simulation results show that the output voltage is in the range of 0.14[Formula: see text]V and 2.97[Formula: see text]V when the input voltage is changed from 50[Formula: see text]mV to 150[Formula: see text]mV. The output voltage could reach 2.87[Formula: see text]V at the input voltage of 150[Formula: see text]mV and the load of 1[Formula: see text]M[Formula: see text]. The maximum efficiency is in the range of 10.0% and 14.8% when the input voltage is changed from 0.2[Formula: see text]V to 0.4[Formula: see text]V. The circuit is suitable for thermoelectric energy harvesting to start with ultra-low input voltage.