可用於多種電晶體製程、超低電壓與廣域電壓的準位轉換器

An Ultra-Low-Voltage and Wide-Range Level Shifter Suitable for Various Transistor Technologies

羅賢君(Shien-Chun Luo) ； 黃清吉(Ching-Ji Huang) ； 朱元華(Yuan-Hua Chu)

《電腦與通訊》 156期 (2014/04) Pp. 75-82

摘要

動態電壓調整與多重供應電壓是目前低功率積體電路設計的重要的方法，而準位轉換器是溝通不同電壓介面的重要電路。超低電壓與廣域電壓操作是為了達成超低功率消耗的需求，使分散式傳感器和識別裝置得以延長使用時間，有效實現無線感測網路和物聯網系統。回歸電路技術，現有的準位轉換器對於超低電壓和廣域電壓操作尚無法通用化，因此針對每一種電晶體製程，都必須要獨立且複雜的設計，這些準位轉換器通常無法用在不同電晶體製程，也無法達成全域電壓轉換。本文因此提出一個可以通用於多種電晶體製程、不易受到製程參數影響、並且支持全域電壓轉換的準位轉換器，其操作區間從深次臨界電壓到標準操作電壓，並且可以支持向上或向下準位轉換，其延遲時間可以少於三個緩衝器的延遲，因此可以完全整合在一般通用標準邏輯元件庫，配合既有設計流程。

關鍵字

動態電壓調整(Dynamic Voltage Scaling；DVS) ； 準位轉換器(Level Shifter；LS) ； 製程變異(Process Variation) ； 次臨界電壓邏輯(Subthreshold Logic) ； 超低電壓(Ultra-low Voltage；ULV)

並列摘要

Dynamic voltage scaling and multiple supply voltages are substantial techniques of modern low-power integrated circuit design. Level shifters are the critical interface circuits that transfer the digital value of signals between different voltage domains. Ultra-low-voltage and wide-voltage-range operations achieve ultra-low power consumption that prolongs the lifetime of distributed sensuous and identifying devices and enables the development of wireless sensor networks and internet of things. In terms of circuit design, existing level shifters require technology-specific structures for converting an ultra-low voltage. Generally these structures support neither full-voltage-rang operation nor technology scaling. This paper thus proposes a novel level shifter that is available for various transistor technologies, insensitive to process parameters, capable of full-voltage-range operation, and bidirectional in level conversion. The level shifter has less than three buffer delays, and the integration is compatible in general standard cell libraries and existing design flows.