voltage for electronic systems

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Silicon diodes have a minimum forward drop of about 0.6V so that's a practical minimum for Si devices. Germanium diodes have a minimum drop of about 0.4V so that's about the minimum for Ge devices.

I have a Sony AM-FM pocket radio which operates from one AA battery and will work down do near 1V while driving earphones, which I consider somewhat amazing for an analog IC. That's probably a reasonable minimum for a practical circuit today (but most require more than that).
 
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there is 0.2 volts digital logic, i think from Intersil but not exactly sure.

the Si and Ge barrier voltages are just the two classical cases.

also at low current silicon diodes do no drop 0.7 volts, not even 0.6 volts.
 
Some devices work to 0.7v to 0.9v (supply voltage) as they have a capacitor voltage multiplier circuit to increase the voltage to 2v and up to 5v.
 
I'd say 2.4 volts (the voltage produced by 2 NiMH batteries) is the reasonable lower margin for today's standard microcontrollers, and digital circuits.

sure there is some new low voltage FPGA but it is not easily available, and you can not just solder a small IC, connect 2 batteries, and it will do something. so it counts differently.

also LEDs need at least 1.5 volts to 2.5 volts.

I've encountered single cell AA supplies inside minidisc player, and scent dispenser.
they contain dc/dc converters.

2.4 volts devices can work directly from the NiMH batteries, as they will retain that voltage over most of the discharge curve.
so it is a very economic threshold.
 
This question is kind of meaningless...kind of like what is the minimum amount of food animals has to eat to live. The anwer is...it depends!
 
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Agreed, it's a silly question.

Anyway as far as I'm concerned there's little point in bothering to design anything that will work below 800mV of so because it will work fine from a single AA cell.
 
0.007895274620054186034v

Just a meaningless number for a meaningless question.

0.2v ? why not -0.2v

Lets be honest if you think about it -1000v is less than 0.2v
 
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