Energy-Efficient CMOS Differential Active Inductor Operating in Weak Inversion for Low-Power Wireless Applications

Energy-Efficient CMOS Differential Active Inductor Operating in Weak Inversion for Low-Power Wireless Applications

Mostapha BOUSSETTA, Fatima-Zohra AHAMRI, Ridouane HAMDAOUY, Rachid EL ALAMI, Khadija SLAOUI

Abstract. This paper presents an energy-efficient Differential Active Inductor (DAI) implemented in 0.13 µm CMOS technology and biased in weak inversion for ultra-low-power wireless appli-cations. A gyrator–C architecture enables independent tuning of inductance and quality factor via transconductance control, while mitigating ohmic losses. Two topologies are investigated: a fully differential design (Design I) and a hybrid differential/common-source design (Design II). An impedance-based extraction procedure is employed to derive L(f), Q(f), and R_s (f) from AC simulations. Post-layout results show that Design I achieve Q_max=1.235×10^3 at 2.34 MHz, while Design II offers an 8.6% area reduction. Power consumption remains in the nanowatt-to-microwatt range.

Keywords
Differential Active Inductor, Weak Inversion, Low-Power RF Circuits, CMOS 130 nm

Published online 4/25/2026, 8 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA

Citation: Mostapha BOUSSETTA, Fatima-Zohra AHAMRI, Ridouane HAMDAOUY, Rachid EL ALAMI, Khadija SLAOUI, Energy-Efficient CMOS Differential Active Inductor Operating in Weak Inversion for Low-Power Wireless Applications, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 64, pp 995-1002, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904091-123

The article was published as article 123 of the book Energy Futures

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

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