An Ultra-Low-Leakage Microcontroller With Configurable Power Management for Energy Harvesting IoT Devices
This paper presents a power management unit (PMU) architecture designed for energy-harvesting IoT devices, integrating a dual-capacitor system, an ultra-low-leakage balloon-based microcontroller (MCU), and a fully digital controller. The PMU dynamically switches between an active capacitor, an idle...
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2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10933974/ |
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| author | Shima Sedighiani Bram van Bolderik Barry de Bruin Kamlesh Singh Roel Jordans Pieter Harpe Jose Pineda de Gyvez |
| author_facet | Shima Sedighiani Bram van Bolderik Barry de Bruin Kamlesh Singh Roel Jordans Pieter Harpe Jose Pineda de Gyvez |
| author_sort | Shima Sedighiani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper presents a power management unit (PMU) architecture designed for energy-harvesting IoT devices, integrating a dual-capacitor system, an ultra-low-leakage balloon-based microcontroller (MCU), and a fully digital controller. The PMU dynamically switches between an active capacitor, an idle capacitor, and a backup battery, optimizing energy use in different operational modes. This configuration optimizes capacitor voltages for various operational modes, applying a higher voltage to the active capacitor for enhanced performance and a lower voltage to the idle capacitor for ultra-low-leakage data retention. Additionally, a fully digital PMU controller replaces conventional analog components, leveraging a digital voltage monitor and converter-free voltage regulation. The test chip is designed and fabricated using a 28-nm FD-SOI technology. The balloon-based MCU measurement shows that it can retain data during idle mode with a power consumption of only 3nW at 0.6V, achieving a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4400 \times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> reduction in leakage power compared to conventional MCUs without balloon memory. Furthermore, the results of the system measurement demonstrate a substantial reduction in battery usage from 88% in traditional setups to 0%, while ensuring continuous operation and data retention. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-21b23fe2e1d44e529c653b042c0da982 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2169-3536 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
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| spelling | doaj-art-21b23fe2e1d44e529c653b042c0da9822025-08-20T01:50:45ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-0113535945360710.1109/ACCESS.2025.355294310933974An Ultra-Low-Leakage Microcontroller With Configurable Power Management for Energy Harvesting IoT DevicesShima Sedighiani0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4702-5868Bram van Bolderik1Barry de Bruin2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2341-9504Kamlesh Singh3Roel Jordans4Pieter Harpe5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6542-0001Jose Pineda de Gyvez6Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, AZ, The NetherlandsDepartment of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, AZ, The NetherlandsDepartment of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, AZ, The NetherlandsInnatera Nanosystems B. V., Rijswijk, EX, The NetherlandsDepartment of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, AZ, The NetherlandsDepartment of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, AZ, The NetherlandsDepartment of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, AZ, The NetherlandsThis paper presents a power management unit (PMU) architecture designed for energy-harvesting IoT devices, integrating a dual-capacitor system, an ultra-low-leakage balloon-based microcontroller (MCU), and a fully digital controller. The PMU dynamically switches between an active capacitor, an idle capacitor, and a backup battery, optimizing energy use in different operational modes. This configuration optimizes capacitor voltages for various operational modes, applying a higher voltage to the active capacitor for enhanced performance and a lower voltage to the idle capacitor for ultra-low-leakage data retention. Additionally, a fully digital PMU controller replaces conventional analog components, leveraging a digital voltage monitor and converter-free voltage regulation. The test chip is designed and fabricated using a 28-nm FD-SOI technology. The balloon-based MCU measurement shows that it can retain data during idle mode with a power consumption of only 3nW at 0.6V, achieving a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4400 \times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> reduction in leakage power compared to conventional MCUs without balloon memory. Furthermore, the results of the system measurement demonstrate a substantial reduction in battery usage from 88% in traditional setups to 0%, while ensuring continuous operation and data retention.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10933974/Energy harvestingIoT devicesmicrocontrollerpower management unitultra-low powervoltage monitor |
| spellingShingle | Shima Sedighiani Bram van Bolderik Barry de Bruin Kamlesh Singh Roel Jordans Pieter Harpe Jose Pineda de Gyvez An Ultra-Low-Leakage Microcontroller With Configurable Power Management for Energy Harvesting IoT Devices IEEE Access Energy harvesting IoT devices microcontroller power management unit ultra-low power voltage monitor |
| title | An Ultra-Low-Leakage Microcontroller With Configurable Power Management for Energy Harvesting IoT Devices |
| title_full | An Ultra-Low-Leakage Microcontroller With Configurable Power Management for Energy Harvesting IoT Devices |
| title_fullStr | An Ultra-Low-Leakage Microcontroller With Configurable Power Management for Energy Harvesting IoT Devices |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Ultra-Low-Leakage Microcontroller With Configurable Power Management for Energy Harvesting IoT Devices |
| title_short | An Ultra-Low-Leakage Microcontroller With Configurable Power Management for Energy Harvesting IoT Devices |
| title_sort | ultra low leakage microcontroller with configurable power management for energy harvesting iot devices |
| topic | Energy harvesting IoT devices microcontroller power management unit ultra-low power voltage monitor |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10933974/ |
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