An Ultra-Low-Voltage Low-Power Current-Mode True RMS-to-DC Converter

Abstract

A current-mode CMOS true RMS-to-DC (RMS: root-mean-square) converter with very low voltage and low power is proposed in this paper. The design techniques are based on the implicit computation and translinear principle by using CMOS transistors that operate in the weak inversion region. The circuit can operate for two-quadrant input current with wide input dynamic range (0.4–500[Formula: see text]nA) with an error of less than 1%. Furthermore, its features are very low supply voltage (0.8[Formula: see text]V), very low power consumption ([Formula: see text]0.2[Formula: see text]nW) and low circuit complexity that is suitable for integrated circuits (ICs). The proposed circuit is designed using standard 0.18[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m CMOS technology and the HSPICE simulation results show the high performance of the circuit and confirm the validity of the proposed design technique.