Although tip‐enhanced tribo‐tunneling in metal/semiconductor point nanocontact is capable of producing DC with high current density, scaling up the process for power harvesting for practical applications is challenging due to the complexity of tip array fabrication and insufficient voltage output. Here, it is demonstrated that mechanical contact between a carbon aerogel and silicon (SiO2/Si) interface naturally forms multiple nanocontacts for tribo‐tunneling current generation with an open‐circuit voltage output (
An efficient DC‐DC converter for inductive power transfer in low‐power sensor applications
Inductive power transfer has become an emerging technology for its significant benefits in many applications, including mobile phones, laptops, electric vehicles, implanted bio‐sensors, and internet of things (IoT) devices. In modern applications, a direct current–direct current (DC–DC) converter is one of the essential components to regulate the output supply voltage for achieving the desired characteristics, that is, steady voltage with lower peak ripples. This paper presents a switched‐capacitor (SC) DC–DC converter using complementary architecture to provide a regulated DC voltage with an increased dynamic response. The proposed topology enhances the converter efficiency by decreasing the equivalent output resistance to half by connecting two symmetric SC single ladder converters. The proposed converter is designed using the standard 130‐nm BiCMOS process. The results show that the proposed architecture produces 327‐mV DC output with a rise time of 60.1 ns and consumes 3.449‐nW power for 1.0‐V DC supply. The output settling time is 43.6% lower than the single‐stage SC DC–DC converter with an input frequency of 200 MHz. The comparison results show that the proposed converter has a higher power conversion efficiency of 93.87
- Award ID(s):
- 1813949
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10446398
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- International Journal of Circuit Theory and Applications
- Volume:
- 50
- Issue:
- 8
- ISSN:
- 0098-9886
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 2887-2899
- Size(s):
- ["p. 2887-2899"]
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract V OC) reaching 2 V, and short‐circuit DC current output (I SC) of ≈15 µA. It has a theoretical current density (J *) on the order of 100 A m−2. Molecular dynamics simulation and atomistic field theory show that a strong localized electronic excitation can be induced at a dynamic carbon/SiO2sliding interface, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. The DC power output is enhanced by the intense local pressure at the presence of nanocontacts, as well as the increased sliding velocityv . To demonstrate the method for practical applications, light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) with different colors are successfully lighted by a single‐carbon aerogel monolith/SiO2sliding unit, and the DC electricity is stored in a capacitor without an additional rectification circuit. -
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