Subthreshold Level Shifter With Self-Controlled Current Limiter by Detecting Output Error

Abstract

A new subthreshold level shifter capable of converting an input signal from a deep subthreshold voltage to an above-threshold voltage is presented in this brief. The circuit utilizes a self-controlled current limiter to implement level shifting by detecting output error. Owing to to this technique, measured results from a 65-nm test chip demonstrate that it can realize a robust voltage conversion from 0.1 to 1.2 V with limited static power and energy consumption. At the target voltage of 0.2 V, the level converter could operate reliably at a maximum input frequency of 254 kHz.