Deep-Cryogenic Voltage References in 40-nm CMOS

The increasing interest in electronics specifically designed to control quantum processors is currently driven by the quest for large-scale quantum computing. A promising approach is emerging based on the use of CMOS devices operating at deep-cryogenic temperatures, and several essential components have been demonstrated to operate at such temperatures, from basic MOSFETs to field-programmable gate arrays. In this letter, we show, for the first time, a voltage reference in a standard CMOS technology that can guarantee a stable voltage over a wide range of temperatures from 300 K down to deep-cryogenic temperatures. By exploiting CMOS transistors in dynamic-threshold MOS configuration, the proposed reference occupies only 445 mu m(2) in a standard 40-nm CMOS process, while showing a temperature coefficient below 0.8 mV/K over the temperature range from 4 to 300 K. These results demonstrate the feasibility of wide-range cryogenic voltage references to enable future cryogenic applications.