BEOL NEM Relay-Based Inductorless DC-DC Converters

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Electronics/​Sensors/​IoT

In this work, we explore the implementations of the buck converter and the boost converter, using Back-End-of-Line (BEOL) Nano-electromechanical (NEM) relays, for on-chip voltage conversions.

Our study exploits the design approach for relay-based DC-DC converters using an inductorless, charge pump topology in a switched capacitor configuration.

We show that both the buck and the boost converter can be implemented with only four NEM relays while having minimum output ripple and higher efficiency compared to its CMOS counterpart.

This makes the relay converter ideal for the voltage regulations on biomedical, implantable chips for energy saving, thus, a longer operation time of the chips.

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  • ABOUT THE ENTRANT

  • Name:
    Ren Li
  • Type of entry:
    team
    Team members:
    Ren Li, Dias Azhigulov, Ahmed Allehyani and Hossein Fariborzi
  • Profession:
    Student
  • Number of times previously entering contest:
    1
  • Ren is inspired by:
    The limitation of current CMOS based technology and the needs for the future ultra-low-power devices and circuits; The integration on full-chip scale.
  • Software used for this entry:
    Coventor MEMS+, Cadence Virtuoso
  • Patent status:
    none