This paper presents an extremely low-power CMOS/SIMOX divide-by-128/129 dual-modulus prescaler. While operating at up to 1 GHz and dissipating merely 0.9 mW at a supply voltage of 1 V, it is capable of 2-GHz performance with dissipation of 7.2 mW at 2 V. This superior performance is primarily achieved by using an advanced ultrathin-film CMOS/SIMOX process technology combined with a new circuit configuration that uses a divide-by-2/3 synchronous counter. Using these same technologies, a single-chip CMOS PLL LSI that uses the developed prescaler is also fabricated. This CMOS PLL LSI can operate at up to 2 GHz while dissipating only 8.4 mW at a supply voltage of 2 V. Even at a lower supply voltage of 1.2 V, 1-GHz operation can be obtained with a corresponding power consumption of merely 1.4 mW. These results indicate that the high-speed and very-low-power features of CMOS/SIMOX technology could have an important impact on the development of future personal communication systems.

We designed and fabricated a prototype 0.4-µm-gate CMOS/SIMOX PLL LSI in order to verify the potential usefulness of ultrathin-film SIMOX technology for creating an extremely low-power LSI containing high-speed circuits operating at frequencies of at least 1 GHz and at low supply voltages. This PLL LSI contains both high-frequency components such a prescaler and low-frequency components such as a shift register, phase frequency comparator, and fixed divider. One application of the LSI could be for synthesizing communication band frequencies in the front-end of a battery-operated wireless handy terminal for personal communications. At a supply voltage of 2 V, this LSI operates at up to 2 GHz while dissipating only 8.4 mW. Even at only 1.2 V, 1 GHz-operation can be obtained with a power consumption of merely 1.4 mW. To explain this low-power feature, we extensively measured the electrical characteristics of individual CMOS/SIMOX basic circuits as well as transistors. Test results showed that the high performance of the LSI is mainly due to the advanced nature of the CMOS/SIMOX devices with low parasitic capacitances around source/drain regions and to the new circuit design techniques used in the dual-modulus prescalar.

A very low-power, high-speed flash A/D converter front-end composed of a new latched comparator was developed. We established a butterfly sorting technique to guarantee the monotonicity of the converter. The 6-bit A/D front-end achieves a speed of 100 Msps and dynamic range of 33 dB with power consumption of only 7 mW at the supply voltage of 1 V, and the butterfly sorter guarantees 6-bit monotonicity with an extra power consumption of 1 mW.

A cyclic A/D conversion circuit technique for sensor networks has been developed using 0.2-µm CMOS/FD-SOI technology. The FD-SOI analog switches can lower the supply voltage without degrading accuracy because of their negligible body effect. The proposed A/D converter achieves operation at the supply voltage of 1 V or less and can handle a sampling frequency ranging from 8 Sps to 8 kSps with a new clocking technique.

We have developed a design technique for static logic circuits. Using this technique, we designed 1/2 divider-type 1:4 demultiplexer (DEMUX) and 2:1 selector-type 4:1 multiplexer (MUX) circuits, each of which is a key component in high-speed data multiplexing and demultiplexing. These circuits consist of double rail flip-flops (DR F/F). These flip-flops have a smaller mean internal capacitance than single rail flip-flops, making them suitable for high-speed operation. The DR F/F has a symmetric structure, so the double rail toggle flip-flop can put out an exactly balanced CK/CKN signal, which boosts the speed of the data flip-flops. The double rail structure enables 30% faster operation but consumes only 17% more power (per GHz) than a single rail circuit. In addition, our 0.25-µm process technology provides a 70% higher frequency operation than 0.5-µm process technology. At the supply voltage of 2.2 V, the DEMUX circuit and the MUX circuit operate at 4.55 GHz and 2.98 GHz, respectively. In addition, the 0.25-µm DEMUX circuit and the MUX circuit respectively consume 6.0 mW/GHz and 13.7 mW/GHz (＠1.3 V), which are only 12% of the power consumed by 3.3-V 0.5-µm circuits. Because of its high-speed and low-power characteristics, our design technique will greatly contribute to the progress of large-scale high-speed telecommunication systems.

For low-voltage, high-speed operation of LSIs, the most attractive features in fully-depleted (FD) SOI devices are their steep subthreshold slope and reduced drain junction capacitance. This paper discusses the impact of these features on circuit performance. FD SOI devices can have a threshold voltage of more than 100 mV lower than that of bulk devices within the limits of acceptable off-state leakage current. Thus they hold higher driving current even at supply voltages of less than 1 V. On the other hand, the reduced junction capacitance is effective to suppress the total parasitic capacitance especially in lightly loaded CMOS circuits. These attractive features improve the speed performance in FD SOI circuits remarkably at supply voltages of less than 1 V. For high-speed circuit applications, 0.25-µm-gate SIMOX circuits, such as frequency dividers, prescalers, MUX, and DEMUX, can operate at up to 1-2 GHz even at a supply voltage of 1 V. CMOS/SIMOX logic LSIs also exhibit better performance at very low supply voltages. At merely 1 V, a SIMOX logic LSI could be functional at up to 60-90 MHz using 0.26-0.34 µW/MHz/Gate of power dissipation. Furthermore, SIMOX logic LSIs will allow 20-30 MHz operation at 0.5 V of a solar cell with reasonable chip size. These investigations lead to the conclusion that FD CMOS/SIMOX technology will have a large impact on the development of low-voltage high-performance LSIs for portable digital equipment and telecommunication systems.

To design a wireless sensor network for farms, it is necessary to understand and predict the effect of vegetation. In this study, the change in the propagation loss characteristics in 920-MHz band is examined during the growth of mulberry bushes. The received signal strength indicator (RSSI) is measured as a function of the distance between the transmitting antenna (Tx) and the receiving antenna (Rx) in a 50×50m mulberry field. The Tx and Rx are placed at a height of 1.5m. Moreover, the horizontal and vertical polarizations are measured and the differences are shown. Three empirical vegetation attenuation models are introduced, and the measured data have been fitted to each model. The results show that the non-zero gradient model is the best model at predicting the vegetation attenuation in a mulberry farm regardless of the polarization or mulberry growth. It is found that the attenuation dependence on the plant height is linear. Furthermore, the results have revealed that the horizontal polarization had about 1.5 times as large an effect on the vegetation attenuation as the vertical polarization.

Phase-nonreciprocal ε-negative and CRLH metamaterials are analyzed using a new approach in which field analysis and transmission line model are combined. The examined one-dimensional nonreciprocal metamaterials are composed of a ferrite-embedded microstrip line periodically loaded with shunt stubs. In the present approach, the phase constant nonreciprocity is analytically estimated and formulated under the assumption of operating frequency far above the ferromagnetic resonant frequency. The present approach gives a good explanation to the phenomenon in terms of ferromagnetic properties of the ferrite and asymmetric geometry of the metamaterial structure, showing a good agreement with numerical simulations and experiment.

We have proposed a human-area networking technology that uses the surface of the human body as a data transmission path and uses an AC electric field signal below the resonant frequency of the human body. This technology aims to achieve a "touch and connect" intuitive form of communication by using the electric field signal that propagates along the surface of the human body, while suppressing both the electric field radiating from the human body and mutual interference. To suppress the radiation field, the frequency of the AC signal that excites the transmitter electrode must be lowered, and the sensitivity of the receiver must be raised while reducing transmission power to its minimally required level. We describe how we are developing AC electric field communication technologies to promote the further evolution of a human-area network in support of ubiquitous services, focusing on three main characteristics, enabling-transceiver technique, application-scenario modeling, and communications quality evaluation. Special attention is paid to the relationship between electro-magnetic compatibility evaluation and regulations for extremely low-power radio stations based on Japan's Radio Law.