2022 19th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals & Devices (SSD'22)
Comparison between a simple serial and a voltage
doubler rectifiers circuits
Mounira BEN YAMNA
MACS Laboratory: Modeling, Analysis and Control of Systems RL16ES22, Innov’COM Lab/Sup’COM
National Engineering School of Gabes, University of Gabes
Gabes, Tunisia
benyemnamounira@gmail.com
Hedi SAKLI
MACS Laboratory: Modeling, Analysis and Control of Systems RL16ES22,
2022 19th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals & Devices (SSD) | 978-1-6654-7108-4/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/SSD54932.2022.9955823
National Engineering School of Gabes, University of Gabes
Gabes, Tunisia
EITA Consulting, 5 Rue du Chant des Oiseaux 78360 Montesson, France
saklihedi12@gmail.com
Abstract—A 3.5 GHz rectifier circuit were designed and
studied in this paper. A comparison between the simple
serial topology with single Schottky diode and voltage
doubler topology. The rectifying circuit is developed for
Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G applications. It has been
designed and optimized with KEYSIGHT ADS software.
The RF-DC conversion circuit achieves an efficiency of
44.9% and 20.63% respectively for simple circuit and
doubler voltage topology.
Index Terms—rectifier, Schottky diode, conversion RF-
DC,serial topology, double voltage topology, conversion
efficiency.
I. I NTRODUCTION
The frequent use of low-power wireless devices;
such as temperature, motion and humidity sensors;
is the basis of new schemes offered by IoT (In-
ternet of Things) [1]. The Internet of Things (IoT)
connects machines, sensors and other things to the
internet. It is expected to revolutionize the way we
monitor our health, environment and infrastructure
and also helps improve efficiency, performance and
service in our daily lives. This impressive devel-
opment in the number of connected objects would
thus raise many challenges as energy autonomy[2].
To make these systems and communicating objects
more autonomous in energy and increase battery
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Nabil DAKHLI
University of Carthage
Ariana, TUNISIA
nabil.dakhli@supcom.tn
life, electromagnetic energy harvesting systems are
a very interesting solution. The key element of the
energy harvesting system is called rectenna (rectifier
+ antenna)[2]. But in our case, the rectenna is devel-
oped just to measure and send the electromagnetic
power in real time . The developed rectenna must
have a high available sensitivity, be compact and at
low cost.
II. G LOBAL STRUCTURE OF A RECTENNA
The ”RECTENNA” is the association of two
words which are ”Antenna” and ”Rectifier”. The
classic topology of a rectenna is shown in Fig. 1
, the antenna is the interface between free space
and the rectifier, its role is to convert the incident
electromagnetic wave into a radio-frequency (RF)
signal, this RF signal is then sent to the rectifier,
through a matching circuit, used to ensure maximum
transfer of RF power [3]. In addition to adaptation,
this module should play the role of a band pass filter.
Indeed, the rectifier, diode for example, is a non-
linear element which generates harmonics during
the rectification of the RF signal, these harmonics
move on either side of the diode. It is necessary to
prevent these harmonics from reaching the antenna,
especially the 2f0 and 3f0 harmonics which are
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generally the most important, because they risk
being radiated again by the antenna, consequently
generating radiation losses. On the other side of
the rectifier component, there is a low pass filter,
its role is to filter all the components going from
the fundamental signal up to nf0, and to keep only
the DC component, which represents the DC signal
useful for powering the wireless sensor, this sensor
is generally modeled by a load (resistance).
Fig. 1. Rectenna architecture.
A. Antenna
An antenna is a passive element that transforms
electrical power into an electromagnetic wave and
vice versa. It transfers the energy of a wave propa-
gating in the surrounding environment to a receiving
system. Antennas are essential for wireless commu-
nication systems. They are the only element that can
ensure the emission or reception of electromagnetic
waves. They can take many shapes and sizes de-
pending on the operating frequency and the type of
application.
B. The rectifier
The rectifier performs RF-DC conversion, the
goal of the rectifier is to perform RF-DC conversion
with the highest efficiency. Diodes or transistors can
be used. However, in microwave energy transmis-
sion systems, Schottky diodes are the most used.
Conventional diodes cannot be used in this case
because they have a high threshold voltage (Vs
= 0.6 V). On the other hand, the Schottky diode
is a better candidate in this context. Indeed, its
threshold voltage varies between 0.1V to 0.3V, it
is more sensitive to low voltage levels delivered
by the antenna and can provide a DC voltage from
low power densities (around -20 dBm) [4]. Today,
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there are also zero-bias diodes that operate at even
lower powers. Depending on the positioning of the
diode (s) in the rectifier, several rectenna topology
have been developed. The serial and parallel topol-
ogy are the simplest to design and are the most
widespread in the literature. Each of the topology
has its advantages and disadvantages depending on
the technology, type of antenna, available input
power, output voltage.
C. The Schottky diode
The diode is the key to converting RF power to
DC power. However, Schottky diodes are most often
used compared to conventional PN junction diodes.
Indeed, they are characterized by a low threshold
voltage which makes them very sensitive to the low
voltage levels delivered by the antenna. In addition,
they have a fairly short transition time thanks to
their low junction capacity which makes them very
fast in switching and therefore more able to operate
at frequencies up to several tens of gigahertz. The
choice of this diode is a very important step in
the design of the rectifier. As shown in Fig. 2 ,
the equivalent electric model of a Schottky diode
without a housing consists of an Rs series resistor,
a resistor of nonlinear junction Rj and a variable
nonlinear Cj junction capacitance [5]. The junction
resistance Rj depends on the value of the current
flowing through the junction. It is given by the
following relation [6]
Cj
RS
Rj
Fig. 2. Equivalent electrical circuit of the Schottky diode.
n: the ideality factor
T: the junction temperature in °K (Kelvin);
q = 1.6 1019 C: the elementary electric charge;
k = 1.38 10−23 J / K: Boltzmann’s constant;
Is: the reverse saturation current;
Ib: the bias current.
D. Different topology of rectifier circuit
1) Serial topology: This is the simplest topology,
it uses a single diode in series to redress the RF
signal as shown in Fig. 3. This is a single alternation
rectification, the low-pass filter, usually a capac-
itor, allows the DC component to be recovered. Matching Low pass
A particular frequency, a matching circuit is used Circuit
lter
upstream of the diode. It can composed of localized
components such as capacitors and inductors, or
distributed elements such as stubs. The simplicity
of this topology and its low power results make
this topology the most common in the design of
rectenna. Fig. 5. Voltage doubler topology.

C2 D4
DC out

Matching Low pass

Circuit
lter D3 C3
RFin C1

C4
D2
D1

Fig. 3. Serial topology

2) Parallel topology: The parallel topology is
similar to that in series and provides the same
performance, it makes it possible to rectify the
negative alternation. In this configuration Fig. 4 ,
the diode is placed in parallel between the two filter
blocks. This topology also allows the recovery of
low power levels, for the same reason as the series
topology, with high efficiency. The anode or cathode
of the diode is connected to ground.
Matching Low pass
Circuit
lter
Fig. 6. Voltage multiplier.
5) Diode bridge topology: The diode bridge
topology Fig. 7 can also, although very rare, be used
for rectifying the RF signal. As with the doubler or
multiplier, this is a full-wave rectification. diodes
D1 and D4 are on during positive half-wave while
diodes D2 and D3 are off, and the reverse is true
during negative half-wave. On the other hand, given
as the RF signal travels through two diodes in series,
the losses in the diodes increase, which degrades
the efficiency, and makes the diode bridge structure
a topology more suitable for high powers.

D1
Matching Low pass
Circuit
lter
Fig. 4. Parallel topology. D2 D3

3) Voltage doubler topology: The voltage dou-

D4
bler topology is a combination of two serial and
parallel topologies Fig. 5.
4) Voltage multiplier : The multiplier is pro-
Fig. 7. Diode bridge topology.
duced by cascading two voltage doubler as shown
in Fig. 6.

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 III. D ESIGN OF THE SIMPLE RECTIFIER CIRCUIT
Several works and realizations of rectennas have
been designed with a rectifier circuit based on a
Schottky diode such as [7], where the rectenna has
achieved a power conversion efficiency of 20% at
GSM bands (900 MHz and 1800 MHz) based on a
Schottky diode SMS-7630, with a receiving power
level of -20 dBm. While in [8], the rectifier used a
HSMS -2822 diode with voltage doubler topology,
harvested an RF signal with conversion efficiency Fig. 8. Design of serial topology rectifier.
of 57% at 2.45 GHz. The proposed rectenna in [9]
operated also at 2.45 GHz, reached an efficiency of
matching circuit consisting of a 8nH inductor and
62%. In [6], a RF-DC conversion efficiency reached
a stub, a capacitor of 10pF was placed after the
63% at 5.78 GHz operation frequency with an input
diode, as a low-pass filter, and a load resistance of
power of 25 mW.
1KΩ.
The main characteristics that must be optimized
when realizes a rectenna are the direct output
The simulation in Fig. 9 shows an efficiency
voltage and the RF-DC conversion efficiency in
which reaches 44.9% at 3.5GHz.
percentage defined by[10]:
1
ef f iciency(%) = × 100 (1)
A+B+C
with:
RL Vj 2 1
A= (1 + ) [θ(1 + − 1.5 tan(θ)]
πRs Vout 2 cos2 θ
(2)
Rs RL Cj2 ω 2 Vj Vj
B= (1 + ) (tan(θ) − θ) (3)
2π Vout Vout
RL Vj Vj Fig. 9. Efficiency Conversion as function of frequency.
C= (1 + ) (tan(θ) − θ) (4)
πRs Vout Vout
πRs
tan(θ) − θ = Vj
(5) IV. D ESIGN OF THE DOUBLER VOLTAGE
RL (1 + Vo ut
) RECTIFIER CIRCUIT
s
Vj The second designed rectifier circuit, which will
Cj = Cj0 ) (6) be compared with the first, is made up of an HSMS-
Vo ut + Vj
2860 diode in parallel with an HSMS-2820 diode,
ω = 2πf and Cj0 are the pulsation and the keeping the same matching circuit. The Schottky
junction voltage at 0 V, respectively. diode HSMS-2820 has as a spice parameters a series
θ is the phase shift during which the diode is resistance Rs of 6 Ω, a junction capacitance Cj0 of
conducting. A simple rectifier RF-DC using a single 0.7 pF, and a breakdown voltage Vbr of 15 V.
Avago HSMS-2860 diode in series was designed The architecture of this circuit is shown in the
and simulated with KEYSIGHT ADS software. The following figure Fig. 10.
design of rectifier circuit is shown in Fig. 8. With the double diode structure, the RF-DC conver-
The used Schottky diode has a low series sion efficiency decreased almost to half compared
resistance Rs of 6Ω, an ultra-low zero-bias junction to the single diode circuit, which reaches 20.63% at
capacitance Cj0 of 0.18pF, and 7V breakdown 3.5 GHz as it is clear in the Fig. 11 , on the other
voltage Vbr . The simple rectifier uses an impedance hand it is 44.9% for the first studied circuit .

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Fig. 10. Dual diode circuit architecture.
Fig. 11. RF-DC Conversion Efficiency as function of frequency.
The study and comparison between two circuits
allows us to choose the right circuit to use which
has a higher conversion efficiency, so we speak
about the single diode circuit. This chosen circuit
is characterized in addition to its high performance
by the simplicity and ease of implementation.
V. C ONCLUSION
In this paper we have studied and designed
two rectifier circuits under ADS. The first circuit
consists of a single Schottky diode HSMS2860
in series. However, the second circuit is formed
by a Schottky diode HSMS2860 in parallel with
a Schottky diode HSMS2820. The simulation of
the RF-DC conversion efficiency as a function of
the frequency, shows us at the studied frequency
3.5 GHz, the conversion efficiency of the single
diode circuit is almost double of the doubler voltage
structure. These results justify the choice of the
single diode circuit. An optimization of the circuit
chosen with a single diode even allows us to reach
an efficiency of 56%.
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