20.3dB 0.39mW AM Detector with Single-Transistor Active Inductor in Bendable a-IGZO TFT

This paper presents an AM detector circuit in a bendable a-IGZO TFT technology. The circuit is based on a common-source stage loaded with a single-ended active inductor, which uses only one active transistor. This active inductor is the key element for the achieved circuit performance. The detector circuit consumes only 0.39 mW, which is almost a tenfold improvement over previous works in the same technology and crucial for mobile and wearable applications. At the same time it has the smallest chip area. The detector provides a conversion gain of 20.3 dB and an RF -3dB-bandwidth of around 7.5 MHz. At fc=13.56 MHz it has 11.6 dB gain, which also allows its use in this unlicensed ISM radio band for RFID and smart label applications.