A Single-Chip Wireless Powered RFID Antenna and Transceiver

Abstract

Design, post-processing, and characterization of a dust-size (0.46 mm2) single-chip wireless transceiver suitable for RFID and sensing applications are presented. The fully integrated system is fabricated in GlobalFoundries 45-nm CMOS SOI technology and integrates a miniature on-chip slot antenna, a power harvesting and management module, a modem with backscattering transmission, a clock generator and a digital control and memory unit. The chip consumes on average only 68 ${\mu }\text{W}$ of power under 0.9-V supply voltage (114 ${ \mu }\text{W}$ under 1 V) provided by a horn antenna radiating 1 W RF power at 950 MHz at a distance below 16 cm. A novel post-CMOS fabrication technique is used to release the system from its handle silicon substrate for ultimate miniaturization leading to the smallest volume (<0.005 mm3) wireless transceiver reported to date with relatively low power.