A self-powered supply-sensing biosensor platform using bio fuel cell and low-voltage, low-cost CMOS Supply-controlled ring oscillator with inductive-coupling transmitter for healthcare IoT

Abstract

This paper proposes a self-powered disposable supply-sensing biosensor platform for big-data-based healthcare applications. The proposed supply-sensing biosensor platform is based on bio fuel cells and a 0.23-V 0.25- μ all-digital CMOS supply-controlled ring oscillator with a current-driven pulse-interval-modulated inductive-coupling transmitter. The fully digital, and current-driven architecture uses zero- V transistors, which enables low voltage operation and a small footprint, even in a cost-competitive legacy CMOS. This enables converterless self-powered operation using a bio fuel cell, which is ideal for disposable healthcare applications. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed platform, a test chip was fabricated using 0.25- CMOS technology. The experimental results successfully demonstrate operation with a 0.23-V supply, which is the lowest supply voltage reported for proximity transmitters. A self-powered biosensing operation using organic bio fuel cells was also successfully demonstrated. In addition, an asynchronous inductive-coupling receiver and an off-chip inductor for performance improvement were successfully demonstrated.