High-speed and energy-efficient subthreshold level converter for wider voltage conversion

In this paper, a high speed and energy-efficient dynamic threshold MOSFET (DTMOS) based hybrid level converter (DTHLC) is proposed with wide voltage conversion range from sub-threshold to nominal output voltage. The proposed level converter (LC) utilizes Wilson current mirror (WCM) based current generator along with cross-coupled PMOS pull-up device to alleviate the static power consumption. The WCM current generator weakens the pull-up device while the pull-down device is activated to convert extremely low-input voltage lesser than the threshold voltage. In addition, gate/source-driven DTMOS employed in the pull-down network enhances the speed with improved driving capability. The performance of the DTHLC is investigated by implementing it in CMOS 180 nm technology using Cadence tool and simulated through Spectre circuit simulator. It confirms the sub-threshold voltage conversion from 215 mV to 1.8 V and covers wide frequency range. Moreover, the DTHLC exhibits a delay of 3.97 ns, energy consumption of 48.5 fJ for the voltage conversion from 0.4 to 1.8 V with input signal frequency of 1 MHz. In addition, it consumes static power of 685 pW at standby mode.