Low-voltage multi-V<inf>TH</inf> single-supply level converters based on CNTFETs

Abstract

In this paper, new single supply voltage level converters (SSLCs) based on the Carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNTFETs) are proposed for low-power design. Nowadays, in short channel devices, low power design especially in battery-powered digital VLSI systems becomes a very significant challenge. Multi-V DD design is an effective approach for lowering the power consumption without degrading the speed of the integrated circuits. In these circuits in order to convert the voltage levels between the different voltage islands, voltage level converters (LCs) are required. On the other hand, CNTFET refrains most of the limitations of the nanoscale MOSFET devices. Moreover, the threshold voltage of the CNFETs can be determined by adopting proper diameters for their nanotubes. The proposed multi-V TH CNTFET-based design method reduces the number of transistors and considerably improves the energy efficiency and robustness of the LC circuits. The results of the simulations, conducted based on the Stanford CNTFET model at 22nm technology node, demonstrate the superiority of the proposed designs in terms of power consumption, delay, PDP and sensitivity to major process variations compared to the other common and most efficient LC circuits.