Title :
Photo-battery fabricated in silicon on sapphire CMOS
Author :
Marwick, M.A. ; Andreou, A.G.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD
Abstract :
A report is presented on the design and characterisation of an energy harvesting circuit fabricated in silicon on sapphire CMOS technology. The insulating sapphire substrate permits the connection of multiple photodiodes in series to obtain a higher output voltage, and its optical transparency allows for backside illumination. The conversion efficiency of the photo-battery is measured at greater than 1% for wavelengths ranging from infrared to ultraviolet. An active silicon area of 1 cm2 at 50001x ambient illumination yields approximately 60 muW of power.
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; elemental semiconductors; integrated circuit design; integrated optoelectronics; photodiodes; photoelectric cells; sapphire; silicon; Si-Al2O3; ambient illumination; backside illumination; conversion efficiency measurement; energy harvesting circuit characterisation; multiple photodiodes connection; optical transparency; photo-battery fabrication; photocells; power 60 muW; silicon on sapphire CMOS;
Journal_Title :
Electronics Letters
DOI :
10.1049/el:20080374
