Optically injected logic circuits for remote-powered systems on a chip

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compeleceng.2010.04.001 Byline: Dorin Patru, R. Scott Hudson Keywords: Optically injected circuits; Remote power; CMOS logic; Telemetry; Wireless biomedical implants; Contactless smartcards Abstract: This paper reviews the concept of optically injected logic circuits and investigates their implementation in nanometer CMOS technologies. Optically injected circuits are powered via an optical beam, i.e. they do not require a local power supply and distribution network. A complete set of digital cells has been designed and simulated, and key building blocks of the logic family have been fabricated and tested in a standard 180nm CMOS technology. The paper also discusses the design and implementation of optically injected circuits for clock distribution, input/output, analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion. All these circuits are immediately applicable in wireless biomedical implants or contactless smart cards. They can also be used in other systems-on-chip (SoC), in which very low power operation can be replaced by remote-powered operation. Author Affiliation: School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, United States Article History: Received 3 August 2009; Revised 30 March 2010; Accepted 11 April 2010 Article Note: (footnote) [star] Reviews processed and proposed for publication to the Editor-in-Chief by Associate Editor Dr. F. Sahin., [star][star] This work was supported in part by the MOSIS MEP Research Program and by an NSF CRCD grant.