CIPL: A Fast and Low-Power Level Shifter for Wide-Range Voltage Conversion

Level shifters are widely used in multi-voltage-domain digital circuits. The requirements of level shifters include: high conversion speed, low power, small transistor count, wide conversion range, and variation tolerance. However, most existing designs can cover only a subset, instead of all, of these requirements. This work proposes a novel Charge-Injection-Positive-Latch (CIPL) level shifter that tackles all problems at once. The design is validated through simulation in a 16nm FinFET technology, with 640ps/130ps conversion speed for 300mV to 800mV voltage conversion, 260mV minimal operating voltage, and 238nW average power. It enables more extreme applications for DVFS on a multi-voltage-domain design.