A 0.9-V human body communication receiver using a dummy electrode and clock phase inversion scheme

This paper presents a low-power and lightweight human body communication (HBC) receiver with an embedded dummy electrode for improved signal acquisition. The clock data recovery (CDR) circuit in the receiver operates with a low supply voltage and utilizes a clock phase inversion scheme. The receiver is equipped with a main electrode and dummy electrode that strengthen the capacitive-coupled signal at the receiver frontend. The receiver CDR circuit exploits a clock inversion scheme to allow 0.9-V operation while achieving a shorter lock time than at 3.3-V operation. In experiments, a receiver chip fabricated using 130-nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology was demonstrated to successfully receive the transmitted signal when the transmitter and receiver are placed separately on each hand of the user while consuming only 4.98 mW at a 0.9-V supply voltage.