RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Changgui Yang, Qijing Xiao and Bo Zhao
Corresponding author: Bo Zhao, zhaobo@zju.edu.cn
Key words: integrated circuits, Internet of Things (IoT), battery-free, ambient energy harvesting, backscatter communication. Received 10 FEBRUARY 2026, Revised 20 APRIL 2026.
| [1] |
Yildirim D U, Jung J, Elsakka A, et al. A 0.7 cm2, 3.5 GHz, –31 dBm sensitivity battery-free 5G energy-harvester backscatterer with 20 s cold-start wake-up time for IoT-enabled warehouses. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2025, 60(7): 2595 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2024.3498602
|
| [2] |
Khan M I W, Ibrahim M I, Juvekar C S, et al. CMOS THz-ID: A 1.6-mm2 package-less identification tag using asymmetric cryptography and 260-GHz far-field backscatter communication. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2021, 56(2): 340 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2020.3015717
|
| [3] |
Yang C G, Zhang Z H, Zhang L, et al. 31.4 a 128-channel 2mmx2mm battery-free neural dielet merging simultaneous multi-channel transmission through multi-carrier orthogonal backscatter. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, 2023: 30
|
| [4] |
Zhang Y L, Xiong J, Meng M. A low-power backscatter system with a digitally controlled reconfigurable 16-QAM modulator for energy-efficient wireless communication. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2026, 61(4): 1577 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2025.3589249
|
| [5] |
Kuo S K, Dunna M, Lu H Y, et al. 21.5 an LTE-harvesting BLE-to-WiFi backscattering chip for single-device RFID-like interrogation. 2023 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits, 2023: 320
|
| [6] |
Chang Z Y, Xiao Q J, Wang W X, et al. A passive bidirectional BLE tag demonstrating battery-free communication in tablet/smartphone-to-tag, tag-to-tablet/smartphone, and tag-to-tag modes. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023: 468
|
| [7] |
Chang Z Y, Xiao Q J, Chen C, et al. 23.3 a passive crystal-less Wi-Fi-to-BLE tag demonstrating battery-free FDD communication with smartphones. 2024 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2024: 404
|
| [8] |
Shen J Q, Zhu F Y, Liu Y, et al. 23.1 a 44μW IoT tag enabling 1μs synchronization accuracy and OFDMA concurrent communication with software-defined modulation. 2024 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2024: 400
|
| [9] |
Xiao Q J, Yang C G, Zhang Y S, et al. A passive crystal-less tag demonstrating battery-free GSM-CW/5G-NR downlink and BLE-to-BLE/BLE-to-WiFi/WiFi-to-WiFi multi-channel-hopping uplink with smartphones. 2025 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC), 2025: 1
|
| [10] |
Liu X J, Truesdell D S, Faruqe O, et al. 15.1 a self-powered SoC with distributed cooperative energy harvesting and multi-chip power management for system-in-fiber. 2023 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023: 236
|
| [11] |
Wiliot Wiliot IoT Pixel V2 - Dual-Band Data Sheet
|
| [12] |
Gu G J, Hu X, Xiao Q J, et al. A passive IoT bidirectional tag demonstrating 95m downlink through antenna-array-based power-data-fusion technique. 2024 IEEE Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference (A-SSCC), 2025: 1
|
| [13] |
Lukas C J, Yahya F B, Huang K-K, et al. 15.2 a 2.19µW self-powered SoC with integrated multimodal energy harvesting, dual-channel up to–92dBm WRX and energy-aware subsystem. 2023 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023: 238
|
| [14] |
Kang J, Rao S, Chiang P, et al. Design and optimization of area-constrained wirelessly powered CMOS UWB SoC for localization applications. IEEE Trans Microw Theory Tech, 2016, 64(4): 1042 doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2016.2536663
|
| [15] |
Inpinj Impinj M800 Series RAIN RFID Tag Chips
|
| [16] |
Feng L Q, Liao Q X, Kuang L H, et al. A 0.6-V high-efficiency BLE transmitter using a hybrid PLL with RDAC-based common-mode ripple cancellation in 65-nm CMOS. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2025, 60(10): 3577 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2025.3569172
|
| [17] |
Bhamra H, Kim Y J, Joseph J, et al. A 24 μW, batteryless, crystal-free, multinode synchronized SoC “bionode” for wireless prosthesis control. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2015, 50(11): 2714 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2015.2480854
|
Table 1. Summary and Comparison of State-of-the-Art Battery-Free Communication ICs
| Reference | JSSC'25[1] | JSSC'21[2] | JSSC'25[4] | ISSCC'23[5] | ISSCC'23[6] | ISSCC'24[7] | ISSCC'24[8] | CICC'25[9] | JSSC'15[10] | Wiliot Ltd. [11] | ASSCC'24[12] | TMTT'16[14] |
| Architecture | Passive Backscatter |
Passive Backscatter |
Passive Backscatter |
Passive Backscatter |
Passive Backscatter |
Passive Backscatter |
Passive Backscatter |
Passive Backscatter |
Intermittent Active |
Intermittent Active |
Intermittent Active |
Intermittent Active |
| Technology | 65 nm | 65 nm | 65 nm | 65 nm | 65 nm | 65 nm | 40 nm | 65 nm | 180 nm | NA | 65 nm | 65 nm |
| Chip Area | 1 mm2 | 1.56 mm2 | 2.0 mm2 | 1.7 mm2 | 0.7 mm2 | 0.95 mm2 | 4.0 mm2 | 0.80 mm2 | 2.0 mm2 | NA | 1 mm2 | 0.8 mm2 |
| Modulation | OOK | PWM ASK | B/QPSK 16-QAM |
BPSK | GFSK | GFSK | PSK/FSK/ CSS/OOK |
GFSK/BPSK | OOK | GFSK | GFSK | IR-UWB |
| Protocal Compliant |
Custom | Custom | Custom | BLE tone to Wi-Fi |
BLE tone to Wi-Fi |
Wi-Fi to BLE | Custom | BLE-to-BLE BLE-to-WiFi WiFi-to-WiFi |
Custom | BLE | BLE | Custom |
| Frequency | 3.5 G | 260 G | 2.4 G | 2.4 G | 2.4 G | 2.4 G | 433 M | 2.4 G | 457.5 M | 2.4 G | 2.4 G | 6.9−9.3 G |
| Burst Data Rate | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 1 Mb/s | 1 Mb/s | 1 Mb/s | 18 Mb/s |
| Avg. Data Rate | 5 kb/s | 2 kb/s | 200 Mb/s | 2 Mb/s | 1 Mb/s | 1 Mb/s | 5 Mb/s | 1 Mb/s | 106.7 kb/s(a) | <1 kb/s(c) | NA | 0.9 Mb/s(e) |
| Total Power | 120 nW | 21 μW | 20.7 μW | 29.5 μW | 1.94 μW | 17 μW | 44 μW | 111 μW | 24 μW(a) | NA | NA | 1.8 mW |
| Avg. Tx Power | 120 nW | 13 μW | 19 μW | 25 μW | 0.53 μW | 8.7 μW | 43 μW | 110 μW | 5.4 μW(a) | NA | NA | 90 μW(e) |
| Form Factor | 0.7 cm2 | 1.56 mm2 | Large Proto. | Large Proto. | Large Proto. | Large Proto. | Large Proto. | 4.37 cm2 | >2 cm2(b) | 11 cm2(d) | Large Proto. | 1 cm2 |
| Demonstrated Link Distance |
1.5 m | 5 cm | 30 m | 50 cm | 160 m | 4 m | 52 m | 10.5 m | NA | 10-15 m | 37 m | 11 m |
| Battery-free Demonstration |
YES | YES | NO | YES | YES | YES | NO | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Crystal-less | YES | YES | NO | NO | YES | YES | NO | NO | YES | YES | NO | NO |
| NA: Not available or not applicable. Large Proto.: Large prototype with commercial antenna. (a) With 10.67% working time of transmitter. (b) Estimated from printed antenna and off-chip supercapacitor. (c) Estimated with 1 s working period and 3 BLE packets of 42 bytes. (d) With ultra-thin form factor. (e) Estimated with 5% working time of transmitter. | ||||||||||||
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| [1] |
Yildirim D U, Jung J, Elsakka A, et al. A 0.7 cm2, 3.5 GHz, –31 dBm sensitivity battery-free 5G energy-harvester backscatterer with 20 s cold-start wake-up time for IoT-enabled warehouses. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2025, 60(7): 2595 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2024.3498602
|
| [2] |
Khan M I W, Ibrahim M I, Juvekar C S, et al. CMOS THz-ID: A 1.6-mm2 package-less identification tag using asymmetric cryptography and 260-GHz far-field backscatter communication. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2021, 56(2): 340 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2020.3015717
|
| [3] |
Yang C G, Zhang Z H, Zhang L, et al. 31.4 a 128-channel 2mmx2mm battery-free neural dielet merging simultaneous multi-channel transmission through multi-carrier orthogonal backscatter. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, 2023: 30
|
| [4] |
Zhang Y L, Xiong J, Meng M. A low-power backscatter system with a digitally controlled reconfigurable 16-QAM modulator for energy-efficient wireless communication. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2026, 61(4): 1577 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2025.3589249
|
| [5] |
Kuo S K, Dunna M, Lu H Y, et al. 21.5 an LTE-harvesting BLE-to-WiFi backscattering chip for single-device RFID-like interrogation. 2023 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits, 2023: 320
|
| [6] |
Chang Z Y, Xiao Q J, Wang W X, et al. A passive bidirectional BLE tag demonstrating battery-free communication in tablet/smartphone-to-tag, tag-to-tablet/smartphone, and tag-to-tag modes. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023: 468
|
| [7] |
Chang Z Y, Xiao Q J, Chen C, et al. 23.3 a passive crystal-less Wi-Fi-to-BLE tag demonstrating battery-free FDD communication with smartphones. 2024 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2024: 404
|
| [8] |
Shen J Q, Zhu F Y, Liu Y, et al. 23.1 a 44μW IoT tag enabling 1μs synchronization accuracy and OFDMA concurrent communication with software-defined modulation. 2024 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2024: 400
|
| [9] |
Xiao Q J, Yang C G, Zhang Y S, et al. A passive crystal-less tag demonstrating battery-free GSM-CW/5G-NR downlink and BLE-to-BLE/BLE-to-WiFi/WiFi-to-WiFi multi-channel-hopping uplink with smartphones. 2025 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC), 2025: 1
|
| [10] |
Liu X J, Truesdell D S, Faruqe O, et al. 15.1 a self-powered SoC with distributed cooperative energy harvesting and multi-chip power management for system-in-fiber. 2023 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023: 236
|
| [11] |
Wiliot Wiliot IoT Pixel V2 - Dual-Band Data Sheet
|
| [12] |
Gu G J, Hu X, Xiao Q J, et al. A passive IoT bidirectional tag demonstrating 95m downlink through antenna-array-based power-data-fusion technique. 2024 IEEE Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference (A-SSCC), 2025: 1
|
| [13] |
Lukas C J, Yahya F B, Huang K-K, et al. 15.2 a 2.19µW self-powered SoC with integrated multimodal energy harvesting, dual-channel up to–92dBm WRX and energy-aware subsystem. 2023 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023: 238
|
| [14] |
Kang J, Rao S, Chiang P, et al. Design and optimization of area-constrained wirelessly powered CMOS UWB SoC for localization applications. IEEE Trans Microw Theory Tech, 2016, 64(4): 1042 doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2016.2536663
|
| [15] |
Inpinj Impinj M800 Series RAIN RFID Tag Chips
|
| [16] |
Feng L Q, Liao Q X, Kuang L H, et al. A 0.6-V high-efficiency BLE transmitter using a hybrid PLL with RDAC-based common-mode ripple cancellation in 65-nm CMOS. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2025, 60(10): 3577 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2025.3569172
|
| [17] |
Bhamra H, Kim Y J, Joseph J, et al. A 24 μW, batteryless, crystal-free, multinode synchronized SoC “bionode” for wireless prosthesis control. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2015, 50(11): 2714 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2015.2480854
|
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Received: Revised: Online: Accepted Manuscript: 18 May 2026
| Citation: |
Changgui Yang, Qijing Xiao, Bo Zhao. Towards perpetual AIoT: evolution and challenges of battery-free communication ICs[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2026, In Press. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/26020040
****
C G Yang, Q J Xiao, and B Zhao, Towards perpetual AIoT: evolution and challenges of battery-free communication ICs[J]. J. Semicond., 2026, accepted doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/26020040
|
Changgui Yang received his B.S. degree from the College of Information Science and Electronic Engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 2019, and subsequently earned his Ph.D. degree in Electronic Science and Technology from the same institution in 2024. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in College of Integrated Circuits, Zhejiang University. His current research focuses on analog/mixed-signal IC design, with a particular emphasis on biomedical sensor interfaces, wireless power and data transmission circuits for implantable medical devices, as well as battery-less internet of things (IoT) devices. His work aims to address key challenges in low-power, high-reliability circuit design for medical and IoT applications. He is dedicated to advancing the integration of specialized circuits with emerging biomedical and IoT systems
Qijing Xiao received the B.S. degree in communication engineering from the Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China, in 2021. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in electronic information at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. His research interests include battery-free IoT radios, low-power standard-compatible backscatter systems, analog/mixed-signal IC design, and wireless power transfer circuit design
Bo Zhao received the Ph.D. degree from EE Department of Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2011. He worked in National University of Singapore and UC Berkeley (BWRC) from 2013 to 2018. Since 2018, he has been a Professor with the Institute of VLSI Design, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. In 2024, he was rated as Qiushi Distinguished Professor of Zhejiang University. He has authored or coauthored more than 70 articles and book chapters. He holds more than 30 Chinese patents. His research interests include IoT radios, power harvesters, biomedical sensors, wireless systems, and wearable/implantable radios. Dr Zhao was a recipient of the 2017 IEEE Transactions of Circuits and Systems Darlington Best Paper Award, the Design Contest Award of the 2013 IEEE International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design, the Best Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I, as well as the Best Paper Award of the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Integrated Circuits Technologies and Applications (ICTA). He works as the International Technical Program Committee (ITPC) member of ISSCC. He was the Publication Chair for the 2016 IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference. He serves as the Chair of IEEE Biomedical and Life Science Circuits and Systems Society, as well as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems (2024-now)，IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I (2020-2023), and IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II (2026-now). Dr. Zhao also serves as a Committee Member of IEEE/C/SM| [1] |
Yildirim D U, Jung J, Elsakka A, et al. A 0.7 cm2, 3.5 GHz, –31 dBm sensitivity battery-free 5G energy-harvester backscatterer with 20 s cold-start wake-up time for IoT-enabled warehouses. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2025, 60(7): 2595 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2024.3498602
|
| [2] |
Khan M I W, Ibrahim M I, Juvekar C S, et al. CMOS THz-ID: A 1.6-mm2 package-less identification tag using asymmetric cryptography and 260-GHz far-field backscatter communication. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2021, 56(2): 340 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2020.3015717
|
| [3] |
Yang C G, Zhang Z H, Zhang L, et al. 31.4 a 128-channel 2mmx2mm battery-free neural dielet merging simultaneous multi-channel transmission through multi-carrier orthogonal backscatter. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, 2023: 30
|
| [4] |
Zhang Y L, Xiong J, Meng M. A low-power backscatter system with a digitally controlled reconfigurable 16-QAM modulator for energy-efficient wireless communication. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2026, 61(4): 1577 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2025.3589249
|
| [5] |
Kuo S K, Dunna M, Lu H Y, et al. 21.5 an LTE-harvesting BLE-to-WiFi backscattering chip for single-device RFID-like interrogation. 2023 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits, 2023: 320
|
| [6] |
Chang Z Y, Xiao Q J, Wang W X, et al. A passive bidirectional BLE tag demonstrating battery-free communication in tablet/smartphone-to-tag, tag-to-tablet/smartphone, and tag-to-tag modes. 2023 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023: 468
|
| [7] |
Chang Z Y, Xiao Q J, Chen C, et al. 23.3 a passive crystal-less Wi-Fi-to-BLE tag demonstrating battery-free FDD communication with smartphones. 2024 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2024: 404
|
| [8] |
Shen J Q, Zhu F Y, Liu Y, et al. 23.1 a 44μW IoT tag enabling 1μs synchronization accuracy and OFDMA concurrent communication with software-defined modulation. 2024 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2024: 400
|
| [9] |
Xiao Q J, Yang C G, Zhang Y S, et al. A passive crystal-less tag demonstrating battery-free GSM-CW/5G-NR downlink and BLE-to-BLE/BLE-to-WiFi/WiFi-to-WiFi multi-channel-hopping uplink with smartphones. 2025 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC), 2025: 1
|
| [10] |
Liu X J, Truesdell D S, Faruqe O, et al. 15.1 a self-powered SoC with distributed cooperative energy harvesting and multi-chip power management for system-in-fiber. 2023 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023: 236
|
| [11] |
Wiliot Wiliot IoT Pixel V2 - Dual-Band Data Sheet
|
| [12] |
Gu G J, Hu X, Xiao Q J, et al. A passive IoT bidirectional tag demonstrating 95m downlink through antenna-array-based power-data-fusion technique. 2024 IEEE Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference (A-SSCC), 2025: 1
|
| [13] |
Lukas C J, Yahya F B, Huang K-K, et al. 15.2 a 2.19µW self-powered SoC with integrated multimodal energy harvesting, dual-channel up to–92dBm WRX and energy-aware subsystem. 2023 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), 2023: 238
|
| [14] |
Kang J, Rao S, Chiang P, et al. Design and optimization of area-constrained wirelessly powered CMOS UWB SoC for localization applications. IEEE Trans Microw Theory Tech, 2016, 64(4): 1042 doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2016.2536663
|
| [15] |
Inpinj Impinj M800 Series RAIN RFID Tag Chips
|
| [16] |
Feng L Q, Liao Q X, Kuang L H, et al. A 0.6-V high-efficiency BLE transmitter using a hybrid PLL with RDAC-based common-mode ripple cancellation in 65-nm CMOS. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2025, 60(10): 3577 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2025.3569172
|
| [17] |
Bhamra H, Kim Y J, Joseph J, et al. A 24 μW, batteryless, crystal-free, multinode synchronized SoC “bionode” for wireless prosthesis control. IEEE J Solid State Circuits, 2015, 50(11): 2714 doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2015.2480854
|
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