Peer Reviewed Journal via three different mandatory reviewing processes, since 2006, and, from September 2020, a fourth mandatory peer-editing has been added.
This paper presents the design of an energy
harvesting wireless and battery-less silicon-on-chip (SoC)
device that can be implanted in the human body to monitor
certain health conditions. The proposed architecture has been
designed on TSMC 0.18µm CMOS ICs and is an integrated
system with a rectenna (antenna and rectifier) and transmitting
circuit, all on a single chip powered by an external transmitter
and that is small enough to be inserted in the human eye, heart
or brain.
The transmitting and receiving antennas operate in the 5.8-
GHz ISM band and have a -10dB gain. The distinguishing
feature of this design is the rectenna that comprises of a singlestage
diode connected NMOS rectifier and a 3-D on-chip
antenna that occupies only 2.5 × 1 × 2.8 mm3 of chip area and
has the ability to communicate within proximity of 5 cm while
giving 10% efficiency. The external source is a reader that
powers up the RF rectifier in the implantable chip triggering it
to start sending data back to the reader enabling an efficient
method of health evaluation for the patient.
