Efficient Far Field Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting for Passively Powered Sensor Networks
An RF DC power conversion system is designed to efficiently convert far field RF energy to DC voltages at very low received power and voltages. Passive rectifier circuits are designed in a 0.25 mum CMOS technology using floating gate transistors as rectifying diodes. The 36 stage rectifier can rectify input voltages as low as 50 mV with a voltage gain of 6.4 and operates with received power as low as 5.5 muW(22.6 dBm) Optimized for far field, the circuit operates at a distance of 44 m from a 4 W EIRP source. The high voltage range achieved at low load current make it ideal for use in passively powered sensor networks.
IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits