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  1. This work presents a 4-channel, mm-scale, electrostatic and piezoelectric actuator driver that uses < 1μA total quiescent bias current and can drive actuator loads up to 120-330V at frequencies over 1kHz. The driver achieves over 99% current efficiency and can operate untethered with an integrated photovoltaic array driven by a collimated or diffuse optical power source. The circuit is tested with an off-chip boost circuit, generating over 1.5kV with 85% power efficiency at 45mW load. The system uses a simple 4-bit CMOS logic level interface with 100 kHz clock to actuate high voltage channels; on-chip photovoltaics also power the digital controller, and I/O bus. 
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  2. This work presents a 4-channel, mm-scale, electro-static and piezoelectric actuator driver that uses< 1 µA total quiescent bias current and can drive actuator loads up to 120-330 V at frequencies over 1kHz. The driver achieves over 99% current efficiency and can operate untethered with an integrated photovoltaic array powered by a collimated or diffuse optical power source. The circuit is demonstrated also as a driver for an off-chip boost circuit, generating over 1.5 kV with 85% power efficiency at 45mW load. The system uses a simple 4-bit CMOS logic level interface with 100 kHz clock to actuate high voltage channels; on-chip photovoltaics also power the digital controller, and I/O bus. 
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  3. This work explores the mechanisms and limitations of natural voltage balancing in flying capacitor multilevel (FCML) DC-DC converters. A simple discrete-time state space model is used to explore the fundamental conditions that will lead to (or prevent) natural balance of flying capacitor voltages, along with the balancing dynamics. The treatment is used to highlight straightforward ways to alleviate problems with natural imbalance by adjusting the switching scheme. The model is compared against circuit simulations and the proposed switching scheme is verified in a hardware prototype. 
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