Ultra Low Power Circuits

Course developed by: Jorge Fernandes
Contact: jrf@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Course Description

This course (see course curriculum here) explores how modern electronic systems can operate at extremely low energy levels, enabling innovations in wearables, medical implants, IoT nodes, and other battery-powered or energy-harvesting devices. Learners are introduced to the principles of ultra-low-power (ULP) analog and digital CMOS design, with a special focus on circuits operating in the subthreshold region, where transistors consume only a fraction of the energy used in conventional designs.

You will study key ULP building blocks — such as current mirrors, amplifiers, oscillators, voltage and current references, and translinear circuits — as well as techniques for reducing digital power consumption through power gating, clock gating, asynchronous logic, retention memory, and dynamic voltage/frequency scaling. The course also examines system-level design considerations and practical case studies that illustrate how ULP strategies are applied in real applications.

By the end of the course, learners will understand how to design circuits that operate with extremely low currents and voltages, make informed architecture-level decisions, and apply ULP concepts to create highly efficient, long-lived electronic systems.