A simple realization of a 0.5V bulk-driven voltage follower/direct current (DC) level shifter designed in a 0.18 mu m CMOS technology is presented in the paper. The circuit is characterized by large input and output voltage swings and a DC voltage gain close to unity. The DC voltage shift between input and output terminals can be regulated in a certain interval around zero, by means of biasing current sinks. An application of the proposed voltage follower circuit for realization of a low-voltage class AB output stage has also been described in the paper. Finally, the operational amplifier exploiting the proposed output stage has been presented and evaluated in detail. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.