A new type of low power read circuit in EEPROM for UHF RFID

A novel low power read circuit without reference in 1 k-bits electrically erasable and programmable (EEPROM) for UHF RFID is designed and implemented in SMIC 0.18 μm EEPROM process. The read power consumption is optimized using a pre-charge sense amplifier. To improve the performance of the read circuit, a self-detect circuit, a read control logic and a feedback scheme are adopted, combined with a special time sequence. For a power supply voltage of 1 V, an average power consumption of 1.6 μA for the read operation of the EEPROM can be achieved when the read clock frequency is 640 kHz. What is more, with a 110 °C temperature change, the read power consumption variation is as low as 12%. The die size of the EEPROM is 0.15 mm2, where the read circuit occupies 0.0125 mm2.