Low-Power Fully Digital Voltage Sensor using 32-nm FinFETs

Abstract

Abstract:In this paper, a design for a fully digital voltage sensor using a 32-nm fin-type field-effect transistor (FinFET) is presented. A new characteristic of the double gate p-type FinFET (p-FinFET) is examined and proven appropriate for sensing voltage variations. On the basis of this characteristic, a novel technique for designing low-power voltage-to-time converters is presented. Then, we develop a digital voltage sensor with a voltage range of 0.7 to 1.1V at a 50-mV resolution. The performance of the proposed sensor is evaluated under a range of voltages and process variations using Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE) simulations, and the sensor is proven capable of operating under ultra-low power consumption, high linearity, and fairly high-frequency conditions (i.e., 100 MHz).