An Adaptable Interface Circuit With Multistage Energy Extraction for Low-Power Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting MEMS

Abstract

This paper presents a self-powered interface circuit to extract energy from ambient vibrations for powering up microelectronic devices. The circuit interfaces a piezoelectric energy harvesting micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) device to scavenge acoustic energy. Synchronous electric charge extraction (SECE) technique is deployed through the implementation of a novel multistage energy extraction (MSEE) circuit in 180 nm HV CMOS technology to harvest and store energy. The circuit is optimized to operate with minimum power losses when input power is limited, and adapts well to operating conditions with higher input power. The highly accurate peak detector was validated for a wide piezo-electric frequency range from 20 Hz to 4 kHz. A charging efficiency of about 84% has been achieved for 4.75 V open-circuit piezoelectric voltage excited at 390 Hz input vibration under nominal input power range of 30-80 mu W. Power optimizations enable the circuit to maintain a conversion efficiency of 47% at input power level as low as 3.12 mu W. MSEE provides up to 15% efficiency improvement compared to traditional SECE, and maintains power efficiency as high as possible for a wide input power range.