A 120mV startup circuit based on charge pump for energy harvesting circuits

Abstract

In this paper, a 120mV input startup circuit based on novel charge pump architecture is proposed. The startup circuit can boost input voltages ranging from 120mV to 300mV while supplying voltages 280mV to 1.6 V at the output with approximately 23% efficiency. To verify the circuit behavior, the test circuit has been implemented using 0.18μm CMOS process. The low voltage, low area startup circuit is suitable for ultra low voltage applications such as energy harvesters and allows for single chip integration. © IEICE 2011.