Standard CMOS implementation of Schottky Barrier Diodes for biomedical RFID

This paper presents and discusses the implementation of a Schottky Barrier Diode (SBD) in standard CMOS technology as a way to optimize the overall performance of a passive Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) based biomedical implants. It is essential to limit the transmitted power in passive tags, mainly for biomedical applications in order to avoid damaging the human tissues due to local overheating. The implementation of the SBD was obtained by changing the mask flow without any modification to the CMOS fabrication process. The procedure maintains the transistors functionality and adds a new device to a standard CMOS technology. The fabricated SBD structures present a low turn on voltage of approximately 300 mV and low capacitance that are important parameters for passive RFID.