SEMESTER 6
Introduction
MEMS energy harvesters cover a broad spectrum of inventions designed specifically for the usage of collecting ambient waste energy from the surroundings and converting them into useful (primarily electrical) energy. The power output of these harvesters may vary greatly and as such, harvesters continue to be a field of research with significant room for development.
The waste energy collected by these energy harvesters may vary greatly in source, such as residual heat, kinetic energy by vibration, solar power, etc.
Figure 1: d33 piezoelectric energy harvester (Park, Park, & Lee, 2010)
The purpose of use tends to be the feedback of the generated electrical power into powering components of the source system, and is accomplished through several designs which will be discussed. Figure 2: Pyroelectric energy harvester (Hunter, et al., 2011)
Operation Principles
The following section covers the operational principles of two selected energy harvesters, namely the d33-Mode vibration energy harvester as well as the Oak Ridge thermal energy harvester concept.
The vibration energy harvester makes use of the bending of micro cantilever beams when experiencing vibrations as well as the piezoelectric effect to cause an overall change in capacitance and hence a generation of current.
Figure 3a) and 3b) comparing the d31 and d33 designs
The d33-Mode harvester makes use of a modified version of the existing d31 energy harvester, and operates on a principle of a sequence of interdigital shaped electrodes in Figure 3b), rather than the parallel plates seen in Figure 3a) to generate a voltage, and thus power through the bending of a cantilever beam. This design can be seen in Figure 1 in the previous page. The displacement is expressed as y(t) and is a function as
Because of the interdigital fingers, Park considers the design to be superior to that of the d31 mode harvester due to its ability to generate a larger voltage with lower displacements of the cantilever. The stress experienced by the d33-mode is given by ( ) ( )
Where g is the gap of the interdigital shaped electrode, I is the effective inertia, h is the thickness of the silicon cantilever, w is the width of the comb electrode and m is the weight of proof mass. ( ) ( )
Park considers his design superior to that of the d31 because the harvester stress is independent of the l, the length of the cantilever beam or x, the distance from the fixed area, which allows a homogeneous distribution of stress between the electrodes and thus a more stable current which is less prone to current crowding losses.
The basic principles of thermal energy harvesters are founded in the fact that materials such as triglycine sulphate (TGS) demonstrate a pyroelectric effect whereby it exhibits a spontaneous temperature-dependent polarization (Webster, 1998).
This
effect
leads
to
the
temporary
generation of a current but would not otherwise generate electrical power if temperatures remain constant. Figure 5: Charge/field relationship of pyroelectric capcitor 5
The harvester makes use of a bimorph metal plate to trigger the bending of the harvester. The cantilever structure is heated through the anchor as an initial stage, bending towards the heat sink cold surface as demonstrated in Figure 4, where it loses heat through contact of the proof mass with the surface and bends back towards the hot surface.
Subsequent continual transfers between the proof masses and the surfaces allow the pyroelectric material to undergo a constantly fluctuating temperature environment.
This triggers an indefinitely repeating process which would produce power through the pyroelectric material as long as the heat source surface temperature maintains a steady
Fabrication
The fabrication processes of the discussed MEMS energy harvesters are discussed in the following sections.
Parks
d33-Mode using
harvester the
is
fabricated
following
The harvester makes use of simple manufacturing techniques and is straightforward and simple. Figure 8: Fabrication sequence of d33 Firstly, thermal oxidation of the polycrystalline silicon as well as layering of the PZT, platinium and zirconium oxide through electrode deposition results in the structure of figure 8a. Park uses electrode patterning to obtain the interdigital structure of his design on the platinium in 8b) before etching the pattern into the PZT in 8c).
The silicon beam and inertial mass was then obtained in 8d) and 8e) through the use of deep reactive-ion etching (RIE) before finally releasing the SiO2 oxide via etching to obtain the product in 8f)
Figure 9 on the left shows the cantilever used in the pyroelectric energy harvester. It is assumed that the anchors, heat sinks, heat sources and proof masses used are of materials resistance Figure 9. Pyroelectric Capacitative Cantilever conductive. with but low not thermal electrically
This leads to the assumption that with the exception of the main cantilever body, the rest of the cantilever body is made of polycrystalline un-doped silicon to reduce electrical short circuiting. The body of the cantilever is described as a thin metal layer of approximately 1050 nm, while the pyroelectric P(VDF-TrFE) and Ti bimorph metal layers are 2-10 m thick.
It can then be deduced that based on the structural shape, a similar process to that of Parks vibration harvester is used. Figure 10 on the next page shows a possible fabrication process.
The silicon layers in blue are first set in place with the yellow anchor piece first deposited. A layer of silicon dioxide in red is then set to separate the contact from the base silicon layer. Figure 10: Assumed fabrication process
Selective photolithography through a mask transfers the pattern of the lower red portion while deposition of the proof mass fills the remaining portion.
Thin layers are then deposited through electrodeposition to form the main cantilever, and the electrical components are machined.
More photoresist is added to successfully add the upper contact of the beam before finally adding the last portion of silicon. The photoresist and silicon dioxide would then be released anisotropically to form the final structure.
Benefits of Fabrication
Based on Parks fabrication technique as well as the theoretical fabrication technique of the pyroelectric harvester lead to the conclusion that both products are easily mass produced in a large 2D array should the need call for it, which is ideal for both authors recommendations as they recommend the devices be used in bulk.
Pyroelectric Harvester
While Hunters team also found success in the testing of their energy harvester, little recommended use of the pyroelectric harvester is mentioned. The introduction mentions possible opportunities for such active cooling and power generation for sensor systems, such as that of on-chip active heat sinks in standalone computers and data processing sensors, as the harvester has successful applications in environments where a sharp temperature gradient is observed and the resultant power used to reduce the power consumption of the system.
However, there has been little research done on the heat dissipation efficiency of such harvesters. Impeding the heat dissipation of these electrical systems may result in a lower equipment lifespan and lead to an overall low rate of return on the harvesters instead.
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Conclusion
In this paper, two forms of energy harvesters meant to reduce the wastage of energy have been discussed thoroughly through a description of the principles of operation as well as actual and theoretical fabrication methods. The applications of each harvester have been mentioned as well.
This term paper helps to further the knowledge of additional MEMS devices not covered in the lecture as well as enhancing the information already covered, and is a meaningful way to conclude the module.
Works Cited
Hunter, S. R., Lavrik, N. V., Bannuru, T., Mostafa, S., Rajic, S., & Datskos, P. G. (2011). Development of MEMS based pyroelectric thermal energy harvesters. SPIE. Park, J. C., Park, J. Y., & Lee, Y.-P. (2010). Modelling and Characterization of Piezoelectric d33-Mode MEMS energy harvester. JOURNAL OF MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS. Webster, J. G. (1998). The Measurement, Instrumentation and Sensors Handbook. CRC Press.
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