A Batteryless and Single-Inductor DC-DC Boost Converter for Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting Application with 190mV Cold-Start Voltage

Abstract

This paper presents a batteryless DC-DC boost converter for thermoelectric energy harvesting application. With a stepping-up architecture and by inductor sharing, only one off-chip inductor is employed. Fabricated in 0.18μm CMOS process, the chip can be cold-started at 190mV and sustain operation with a minimum input voltage of 50mV. Zero-current switching (ZCS) and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques are utilized to enhance the measured peak efficiency to 60%. And the output voltage can be regulated from 1V to 1.6V.