Subthreshold (Weak Inversion) Operation

[exeiji]

Newbie in IC design, is there any practical application with subthreshold operation? What are the challenges? Yield / distribution? Foundry dependence? Model accuracy?

Thanks!!

 

[renwl]

very low power and low voltage application need mos with subthreshold operation.

 

[exeiji]

Thanks for the reply but specifically, what kinds of application are they?

 

[renwl]

for example RFID card.

 

[n1cm0c]

medical, implantable electronics where very low power is required.

 

[avt]

yes there is - look at grealls www-site - he has designed filters and furtheron a igma delta converter in log-domain (for a hearing aid application)

Added after 1 minutes:

there is also a good book written by grealls that I'm reading right now - it's called "Low Voltage CMOS Log COmpanding Analog Design"

 

[piao]

I think if you want to design a low power but high gain circuit, you need this structure.