A Dual-Mode Memristor-Based Oscillator for Energy-Efficient Biomedical Wireless Systems

Area of Science:

• Electronics Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Wireless biomedical signal conditioning requires energy-efficient and reconfigurable oscillators.
• Traditional ring oscillators face limitations in power consumption and frequency programmability for advanced applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel dual-mode memristor-based ring oscillator for energy-efficient wireless biomedical signal conditioning.
• To enable both fixed-frequency and programmable chirp modes within a single, compact oscillator core.

Main Methods:

• Designed a compact DTMOS memristor emulator using two transistors and one capacitor.
• Integrated the memristor emulator into a three-stage PMOS ring oscillator architecture.
• Utilized varactor control for fixed-frequency tuning and state capacitor/control signal pulse width for chirp mode programming.

Main Results:

• Achieved continuous fixed-frequency tuning from 3.142 GHz to 4.017 GHz with 111 µW power consumption.
• Generated linear frequency sweeps starting from 0.8 GHz in chirp mode with independent range control.
• Demonstrated wide frequency coverage (0.8-4.017 GHz, 133.6% fractional range) and low phase noise (-94.3 dBc/Hz for 5-stage).

Conclusions:

• The proposed dual-mode memristor oscillator offers zero-static-power, wide tunability, and reconfigurability for wireless biomedical applications.
• Ideal for implantable telemetry, neural stimulation, UWB transmitters, and non-contact vital sign monitoring.
• Validated through simulations and discrete prototype experiments, showing robust performance.