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This paper presents a true very low-voltage low-power complete analog hearing-aid system-on-chip as a demonstrator of novel analog CMOS circuit techniques based on log companding processing and using MOS transistors operating in subthreshold. Low-voltage circuit implementations are given for all of the required functions including amplification and automatic gain control filtering, generation, and pulse-duration modulation. Based on these blocks, a single 1-V 300-μA application specific integrated circuit integrating a complete hearing aid in a standard 1.2-μm CMOS technology is presented along with exhaustive experimental data. To the authors' knowledge, the presented system is the only CMOS hearing aid with true internal operation at the battery supply voltage and with one of the lowest current consumptions reported in literature. The resulting low-voltage CMOS circuit techniques may also be applied to the design of A/D converters for digital hearing aids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the all-metal oxides semiconductors circuit technique for very-low-voltage proportional-to-absolute temperature (PTAT) references. Basis of the optimization of supply scaling below the sum of threshold voltages; Key design equations for currents and voltage references; Suitability of PTAT circuits for very-low-voltage system-on-a-chip applications in digital CMOS technologies.

The early detection of very low bacterial concentrations is key to minimize the healthcare and safety issues associated with microbial infections, food poisoning or water pollution. In amperometric integrated circuits for electrochemical sensors, flicker noise is still the main bottleneck to achieve ultrasensitive detection with small footprint, cost-effective and ultra-low power instrumentation. Current strategies rely on autozeroing or chopper stabilization causing negative impacts on chip size and power consumption. This work presents a 27-μW potentiostatic-amperometric Delta-Sigma modulator able to cancel its own flicker noise and provide a 4-fold improvement in the limit of detection. The 2.3-mm2 all-in-one CMOS integrated circuit is glued to an inkjet-printed electrochemical sensor. Measurements show that the limit of detection is 15 pA rms , the extended dynamic range reaches 110 dB and linearity is R2 = 0.998. The disposable device is able to detect, in less than 1h, live bacterial concentrations as low as 102 CFU/mL from a 50-μL droplet sample, which is equivalent to 5 microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents experimental results obtained from both electrical and radiation tests of a new room-temperature digital pixel sensor (DPS) circuit specifically optimized for digital direct X-ray imaging. The 10μW 55μm-pitch CMOS active pixel circuit under test includes self-bias capability, built-in test, selectable e-/h+ collection, 10-bit charge-integration A/D conversion, individual gain tuning for fixed pattern noise (FPN) cancellation, and digital-only I/O interface, which make it suitable for 2D modular chip assemblies in large and seamless sensing areas. Experimental results for this DPS architecture in 0.18μm 1P6M CMOS technology are reported, returning good performance in terms of linearity, =start_CONVERSION_=2kerms-=start_CONVERSION_= of ENC, inter-pixel crosstalk below 0.5LSB, 50Mbps of I/O speed, and good radiation response for its use in digital X-ray imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]