Patent Grant
11586869
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to European Patent Application No. 20172572.8, filed on May 1, 2020, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
The present disclosure relates to a radio frequency identification (RFID) transponder. Furthermore, the present disclosure relates to a corresponding method of operating an RFID transponder.
Nowadays, radio frequency identification (RFID) transponders are widely used, in different areas of industry and commerce and for various purposes. RFID transponders may for example be embodied as so-called RFID tags or RFID cards. It is noted that, in the present disclosure, near field communication (NFC) transponders are regarded as a specific type of RFID transponders. Thus, the principles described herein may also be applied to NFC transponders. RFID transponders often contain charge pumps, which are configured to raise the input voltage of the transponders to an adequate operating voltage for the components of the transponders.
In accordance with a first aspect of the present disclosure, a radio frequency identification (RFID) transponder is provided, comprising a charge pump and at least one functional component, wherein: the charge pump is configured to convert an input voltage into an output voltage and to supply the output voltage to the functional component; the functional component is configured to perform a function of the RFID transponder using the output voltage of the charge pump; wherein the charge pump comprises a diode or switch transistor and at least one capacitor coupled to said diode or switch transistor, and wherein the capacitor is configured to compensate for a change of an impedance of said diode or switch transistor.
In one or more embodiments, the charge pump comprises a plurality of capacitors coupled to the diode or switch transistor, wherein said capacitors have different types, values and/or geometries.
In one or more embodiments, the RFID transponder further comprises a charge pump controller which is configured to connect and disconnect the respective capacitors from the diode or switch transistor.
In one or more embodiments, the charge pump controller is further configured to connect and disconnect at least one of said capacitors from a clock input line of the charge pump.
In one or more embodiments, the RFID transponder further comprises at least one sensor configured to sense an environmental parameter, a fabrication parameter and/or a functional parameter of the RFID transponder.
In one or more embodiments, the RFID transponder further comprises a varactor configured to change the value of the capacitor.
In one or more embodiments, the varactor is configured to change the value of the capacitor in dependence on the sensed environmental parameter, fabrication parameter and/or functional parameter of the RFID transponder.
In one or more embodiments, the capacitor is configured to compensate for a change of the impedance of said diode or switch transistor by having a capacitance which increases, respectively decreases, at substantially the same rate as a resistance of the diode or switch transistor decreases, respectively increases, in response to a change of the input voltage.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method of operating an RFID transponder is conceived, the method comprising: converting, by a charge pump of the RFID transponder, an input voltage to an output voltage, wherein the charge pump comprises a diode or switch transistor and at least one capacitor coupled to said diode or switch transistor, and wherein the capacitor compensates for a change of an impedance of said diode or switch transistor; supplying, by the charge pump, the output voltage to at least one functional component of the RFID transponder; performing, by the functional component, a function of the RFID transponder using the output voltage of the charge pump.
In one or more embodiments, the charge pump comprises a plurality of capacitors coupled to the diode or switch transistor, wherein said capacitors have different types, values and/or geometries.
In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises connecting and disconnecting, by a charge pump controller comprised in the RFID transponder, the respective capacitors from the diode or switch transistor.
In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises connecting and disconnecting, by the charge pump controller, at least one of said capacitors from a clock input line of the charge pump.
In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises sensing, by at least one sensor comprised in the RFID transponder, an environmental parameter, a fabrication parameter and/or a functional parameter of the RFID transponder.
In one or more embodiments, the method further comprises changing, by a varactor comprised in the RFID transponder, the value of the capacitor.
In one or more embodiments, the varactor changes the value of the capacitor in dependence on the sensed environmental parameter, fabrication parameter and/or functional parameter of the RFID transponder.
Embodiments will be described in more detail with reference to the appended drawings, in which:
Nowadays, radio frequency identification (RFID) transponders are widely used, in different areas of industry and commerce and for various purposes. RFID transponders may for example be embodied as so-called RFID tags or RFID cards. It is noted that, in the present disclosure, near field communication (NFC) transponders are regarded as a specific type of RFID transponders. Thus, the principles described herein may also be applied to NFC transponders. RFID transponders often contain charge pumps, which are configured to raise the input voltage of the transponders to an adequate operating voltage for the components of the transponders.
RFID communication may be based on inductive coupling. The communication between an RFID reader and an RFID transponder, such as an RFID tag, is often realized by means of load modulation and can be split into a forward link and a return link. More specifically, the RFID reader may transmit commands to the RFID transponder through a forward link, and the RFID transponder may transmit responses to those commands back to the RFID reader through a return link. The RFID transponder contains a modulator, which load modulates a carrier signal. Different types of load modulation exist, for example active load modulation (ALM) and passive load modulation (PLM). The return link may also be referred to as a backscatter signal or more concisely as “backscatter”.
In RFID applications a charge pump is often used as a power supply for the voltage domain in which the functional components of an RFID transponder operate. The impedance of such a charge pump may be highly power-dependent and may thus vary significantly in dependence on the input voltage fed to the charge pump. It is noted that the input power range of the charge pump may be very large. This may result in a significant change in the impedance matching over power. In particular, a high field strength may result in a high input power, which in turn results in a large impedance change. As a consequence, the strength of a return link of the RFID transponder (i.e., the backscatter strength) may also be reduced significantly due to a de-tuning caused by the impedance change. Furthermore, an adequate matching and antenna design may be difficult to realize, as a result of the different impedance values at different operating points.
In particular, the charge pump 100 is an example of a typical charge pump, in which a clocked charging and discharging of one or more capacitors is performed. Thereby, a low input voltage may effectively be transformed into a higher voltage. More specifically, a sequence of stages or components may be implemented in the charge pump, each of which consists of a diode and an associated capacitor. In this implementation, the capacitor of each stage is loaded via a diode. Each stage of a charge pump is typically designed in such a way that a certain efficiency is achieved under predefined conditions. However, due to the non-linear behavior of the diode, its impedance may change significantly over power, which in turn contributes to a variation of the overall efficiency and impedance of the charge pump. This may lead to a non-optimal and complex tuning of the RFID transponder. Accordingly, it may be desirable to compensate the de-tuning effects, thereby facilitating achieving a higher system performance over a larger input voltage range.
Now discussed are an RFID transponder and a corresponding method of operating an RFID transponder, which facilitate reducing the impact of the variation of the charge pump impedance over power, thereby avoiding that the strength of the return link is significantly reduced as a result of said variation, and further avoiding that an adequate matching and antenna design may be difficult to realize.
In other words, the capacitor has an inverse impedance behavior, in the sense that it facilitates compensating the impedance change of the diode coupled to the capacitor. The diode and the capacitor or capacitors coupled to said diode may together constitute a charge pump stage or charge pump component. Thus, by compensating the impedance change of the diode, the variation of the overall impedance of the charge pump 202 may also be reduced. It is noted that the charge pump 202 may comprise further stages or components (not shown), each of which includes a diode operatively coupled to one or more capacitors of the kind set forth.
In one or more embodiments, the charge pump comprises a plurality of capacitors coupled to the diode, wherein said capacitors have different types, values and/or geometries. In this way, the compensation of the impedance change of the diode may be improved. This, in turn, further reduces the overall impedance change of the charge pump. It is noted that one or more of said plurality of capacitors may have an inverse impedance behavior as described above. Furthermore, in one or more embodiments, the RFID transponder further comprises a charge pump controller, which is configured to connect and disconnect the respective capacitors from the diode. In this way, the compensation of the impedance change of the diode may be optimized. This, in turn, further reduces the overall impedance change of the charge pump. Also, in one or more embodiments, the charge pump controller is configured to connect and disconnect at least one of the plurality of capacitors from a clock input line of the charge pump. In this way, the compensation of the impedance change of the diode may be further improved. This, again, further reduces the overall impedance change of the charge pump.
In one or more embodiments, the RFID transponder further comprises at least one sensor configured to sense an environmental parameter, a fabrication parameter and/or a functional parameter of the RFID transponder. The compensation of the impedance change may be made dependent on the value of these parameters. In this way, the compensation may be further improved. Furthermore, in one or more embodiments, the RFID transponder further comprises a varactor configured to change the value of the capacitor or capacitors which are coupled to the diode. In this way, the compensation of the impedance change of the diode may be further optimized. For instance, the measurement results of the above-mentioned sensor may be used as input for the varactor or as input for a switch which connects and disconnects at least one of the plurality of capacitors from a clock input line of the charge pump.
In one or more embodiments, the capacitor is configured to compensate for a change of the impedance of said diode by having a capacitance which increases, respectively decreases, at substantially the same rate as a resistance of the diode decreases, respectively increases, in response to a change of the input voltage. In this way, compensating for a change of the impedance of the diode is facilitated. In a practical implementation, a capacitor may be selected which ensures that the time constant τ=R·C of the diode-capacitor combination does not change significantly in response to a change of the input voltage. It is noted that R represents the resistance of the diode and C represents the approximate combined contribution of the capacitance of the diode and the capacitance present on the capacitor. When τ is kept constant, the impedance changes of the diode are properly compensated and also the efficiency is kept constant. The skilled person will appreciate that different types of capacitors may satisfy this requirement.
A charge pump stage often has a diode or a switch transistor and a at least one capacitance. In the ultra-high frequency (UHF) domain the capacitances are usually metal-metal or poly-poly capacitances to avoid non-linearities, voltage dependencies, temperature dependencies and large variations due to processing. Unfortunately, these non-linearities and other constraints can often not be avoided in the diode or the switch transistor. The diode may have a strong process, temperature and voltage dependency. In addition, this dependency is mostly non-linear as the behavior is strongly dependent on the biasing point. Furthermore, in the UHF domain the intrinsic capacitance of the diode becomes relevant and it is significantly impacting the behavior of the charge-pump. By selecting a capacitor that ensures an inversely proportional behavior between the resistance of the diode and the capacitance on the capacitor, these drawbacks may be avoided.
It is noted that a capacitor of the kind set forth may either complement or replace the aforementioned metal-metal or poly-poly capacitance, in such a way that the non-linearities and/or other dependencies are removed or attenuated. Non-limiting examples of suitable capacitors include GO2 capacitors, which are voltage-dependent capacitors. Depending on the connection direction, the impedance change of the diode may effectively be compensated. Other non-limiting examples of suitable capacitors include GO1 or SGO capacitors with a single-gate oxide thickness, GO2 or DGO capacitors with a double HV thickness, and GO3 or TGO capacitors with a triple HV thickness. Furthermore, as mentioned above, the impedance change of the diode may be compensated by using different types of capacitors. In that case, the different types of capacitors may include, for example, poly-nwell, poly-pwell, poly-poly (ONO), poly-contact, and metal-metal.
In particular, in these embodiments, one or more capacitors 604, 606, 608, 610, 612 may be added to or removed from the charge pump impedance in a dynamic manner. These capacitors may be of the same type, size or geometry, or, as shown, the capacitors 604, 606, 608, 610, 612 may have different types, sizes and/or geometries. The addition and removal of capacitors 604, 606, 608, 610, 612 may for example be triggered by a command sent by a reader. Alternatively, or in addition, sensor levels or indicators may be used to trigger the addition and removal of capacitors 604, 606, 608, 610, 612. This allows a command-dependent impedance compensation. It is noted that also a negative compensation may be achieved (de-tuning gain). The position at which the respective capacitors 604, 606, 608, 610, 612 can be disconnected may also be selectable. In other words, all or some of the capacitors 604, 606, 608, 610, 612 could be disconnected and reconnected. Furthermore, the capacitors 604, 606, 608, 610, 612 may be disconnected and reconnected at the top plate (i.e., where the capacitors 604, 606, 608, 610, 612 are coupled to the diode 602), at the bottom plate (i.e., where the capacitors 604, 606, 608, 610, 612 are coupled to the clock line), or at both the top plate and the bottom plate. For the selection of the positions at which the capacitors 604, 606, 608, 610, 612 can be disconnected the variations of the specific parasitic properties of the charge pump may be taken into account. Furthermore, sensors or indicators may sense and monitor environmental parameters (for example temperature, humidity, light), fabrication process results (for example threshold voltage, resistivity, capacitance of specific components) or functional parameters (for example power, voltage, current, charge) belonging to or related to the RFID transponder.
It is noted that the embodiments above have been described with reference to different subject-matters. In particular, some embodiments may have been described with reference to method-type claims whereas other embodiments may have been described with reference to apparatus-type claims. However, a person skilled in the art will gather from the above that, unless otherwise indicated, in addition to any combination of features belonging to one type of subject-matter also any combination of features relating to different subject-matters, in particular a combination of features of the method-type claims and features of the apparatus-type claims, is considered to be disclosed with this document.
Furthermore, it is noted that the drawings are schematic. In different drawings, similar or identical elements are provided with the same reference signs. Furthermore, it is noted that in an effort to provide a concise description of the illustrative embodiments, implementation details which fall into the customary practice of the skilled person may not have been described. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill.
Finally, it is noted that the skilled person will be able to design many alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference sign placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word “comprise(s)” or “comprising” does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in a claim. The word “a” or “an” preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. Measures recited in the claims may be implemented by means of hardware comprising several distinct elements and/or by means of a suitably programmed processor. In a device claim enumerating several means, several of these means may be embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20172572 | May 2020 | EP | regional |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5446447 | Carney | Aug 1995 | A |
| 6424570 | Le et al. | Jul 2002 | B1 |
| 7834661 | Ku | Nov 2010 | B2 |
| 7965067 | Gronthal et al. | Jun 2011 | B2 |
| 7973592 | Pan | Jul 2011 | B2 |
| 8035440 | Hernandez-Garduno et al. | Oct 2011 | B2 |
| 20070103311 | Kippelen | May 2007 | A1 |
| 20090219079 | Bergler | Sep 2009 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1909384 | Apr 2008 | EP |
| 2424092 | Feb 2012 | EP |
| 2017040059 | Mar 2017 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20210342661 A1 | Nov 2021 | US |
