Adaptive subthreshold switched capacitor voltage boost for thermoelectric generation

Thermoelectric (TE) generation often provides voltages that are not directly usable by traditional electronics as levels are too low from the TE cell. By implementing charge pumps optimized for these ultra-low levels, a proposed circuit technique is described that can boost the TE output to levels that can used for energy harvesting applications. To improve efficiency, the architecture included Maximum Power Point Tracking and ultra-low power digital control, which can be implemented with subthreshold logic.