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UB20M voltage detector eliminates standby power

The new UB20M voltage detector IC in Fig. 1 allows circuit designers to eliminate standby power, to develop circuits that perform continuous monitoring without using battery power, and to implement wireless wake-up. The device is a sensor-driven circuit that requires no power rail. When the input voltage rises to a typical threshold of 0.65 V, the voltage detector triggers an open-drain output, which activates a switch, as illustrated in Fig. 2. This allows the powering up of sub-systems. The voltage detector meets five criteria which allow it to be sensor-driven, see Fig. 2. Its input is rugged and survives 20 V without using traditional protection circuits that would clamp the signal, and thereby affect the data or power in the signal. The threshold is low at 0.65 V, to provide sufficient sensitivity (we also have lower threshold variants). The sensor uses only a few pA from the sensor, thereby permitting the use of conventional sensors, rather than more powerful and bulky energy harvesters. The detector is suitable for input signals with input voltage gradients from 0 to 10V/ms. At gradients higher than 10V/ms, the threshold increases. Detection hysteresis prevents output oscillations.”

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