An analysis of subthreshold SRAM bitcells for operation in low power RF-only technologies

Current RFID systems rely on the RF transciever to transmit information and convert RF power to DC to operate any integrated digital circuits. Research investigating the application of RF signals directly on digital CMOS circuits without RF-DC conversion is an emerging area for RFID technologies. One crucial digital circuit for most RFID systems is memory, needed for storing operational instructions and sampled data. An in-depth study and comparison of subthreshold SRAM bitcells has been conducted to analyze how such memories will function in a subthreshold RF-only regime without the need for RF-DC conversion. Several SRAM cells were chosen for conversion into the RF-only family and measured against several metrics, including highest performance at lowest operating voltage, power consumption, and static noise margins (SNM). Including RF supply transistors, an 18-T subthreshold RF-only bitcell is proposed, capable of operating at a data rate of 100 kHz at VRF of 200mVRMS.