Study on Low-Cost, Low-Voltage Multiprogrammable Nonvolatile Memory Cells for UHF Tag Chips

This paper proposes a low-voltage, low-cost multiple-time-programmable nonvolatile memory (MTP NVM) based on a standard CMOS 0.13 mu m process for UHF RFID chip applications. The design of the differential structure cell using the tunneling effect reduces the read and write voltage. The read and write simulation test results show that the read and write operating voltage is 10 V, which is 30% lower than that of conventional EEPROMs. Because the UHF RFID tag chip requires higher voltage reduction, the structured memory cell is well suited for UHF RFID applications.