MEMS Electret Generator for Energy Harvesting

S. Kim, Y. Liu, H. Xie, J. Lu, K. Kittipaisalsilpa, Y. Yang, Y. Zhang, T. Miyoshi, and Y. Suzuki

Overview

Energy harvesting is now attracting much attention targeting at their application to automotive sensors, implantable medical equipments and network nodes for structural health monitoring. Final goal of the present study is to develop vibration-driven MEMS power generation device, which produces electricity from environmental low-frequency vibration.

Whereas electromagnetic induction is used for converting kinetic energy to electricity in macro scale, electrostatic induction is superior in micro scale, where relative speed remains small. In the present study, we employ electrostatic induction using polymer electrets as the power generation principle.

So far, we develop a new fluorinated amorphous polymer material based on CYTOP by adding animosilane and demonstrate extremley-high surface charge density above 2 mC/m^2 (at the film thickness of 15 um), which is up to 5 times larger than that of conventional electret materials. It is also found that nano clusters are formed in the animonsilane-doped CYTOP film by local phase separation between the polymer matrix and the addtives. These clusters should work as the charge trapping site in the CYTOP films.

We develop a novel MEMS process for Parylene high-aspect ratio structure (HARS) for soft but robust HARS spring. We also propose a passive gap-spacing control method using electret in order to avoid stiction between top and bottom substrates. Out-of-plane repulsive force is successfully demonstrated with our early prototype both in air and liquid. By using the present electret-based levitation method to keep the air gap, a MEMS electret generator has been developed for energy harvesting applications. Dual-phase electrode arrangement is adopted in order to reduce the horizontal electrostatic damping force. With the present prototype, the total power output of 6 µW has been obtained at an acceleration of 1.4 G with 40 Hz. In addition, with the aid of a non-linear polymer spring system, power generation at a broad frequency range of 16-40 Hz has also been demonstrated. We have also developed an early prototype of battery-less sensor network node with the MEMS energy harvester and accomplished intermittent wireless data transmission.

For eletret transducers, charging techniques are important as well as the electret material. In the present study, novel photoionization charge technologies with soft X-ray and vacuum UV have also been developed for through-substrate charging and charging "vertical electrets" such as the side wall of comb drives. With the aid of the soft X-ray charging technique, new types of electret generator using comb fingers and trench-filled piezoelectric polymer electret are also proposed.

In addition, electrostatic power generation system from unsteady thermal field is under development.

Sponsor: JST Crest Project [PI: Y. Suzuki]

Concept of MEMS Electret Generator

Nano cluster formed in aminosilane-doped CYTOP film visualized with trapping mode AFM (Kashiwagi et al., 2011)

MEMS Electret Generator with Parylene High-aspect-ratio Springs (Miki et al., IEEE MEMS2010)

Prorotype Battery-less Sensor Network Node (Matsumoto et al., PowerMEMS 2011)

Recent Reports

Review Article

  • Suzuki, Y.,
    "Electrostatic/Electret-based Harvesters,"
    in Micro Energy Harvesting, eds. Briand, D., Yeatman, E., and Roundy, S., Wiley-VCH, pp. 149-174 (2015).
    (doi:10.1002/9783527672943.ch8)
  • Suzuki, Y.,
    "Electret-based Vibration Energy Harvesting for Sensor Network,"
    Invited talk, 18th Int. Conf. Solid-state Sensors, Actuators, and Microsystems (Transducers ’15), Anchorage, pp. 43-46, (2015).
  • Suzuki, Y.,
    "Recent Progress in MEMS Electret Generator for Energy Harvesting,"
    IEEJ Trans. Electr. Electr. Eng., Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 101-111 (2011).
    (doi: 10.1002/tee.20631)

High-performance Polymer Electret

  • Kim, S., Suzuki, K., and Suzuki, Y., 
    “Development of A High-performance Amorphous Fluorinated Polymer Electret Based on Quantum Chemical Analysis,”
    18th Int. Conf. on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS 2018), Daytona Beach, T4B-01 (2018) (Best Paper Award).
  • Kim, S., Suzuki, K., Sugie, A., Yoshida, H., Yoshida, M., and Suzuki, Y., 
    “Effect of Terminal Group of Amorphous Perfluoro-Polymer Electrets on Electron Trapping,” 
    Sci. Tech. Adv. Mater., Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 486-494 (2018).
  • (doi:10.1080/14686996.2018.1477395
  • Kashiwagi, K., Okano, K., Miyajima, T., Sera, Y., Tanabe, N., Morizawa, Y., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “Nano-cluster-enhanced High-performance Perfluoro-polymer Electrets for Micro Power Generation,”
    J. Micromech. Microeng., Vol. 21, Issue 12, No. 125016, (2011).
    (doi:10.1088/0960-1317/21/12/125016)
  • Sakane, Y., Suzuki, Y., and Kasagi, N.,
    "Development of High-performance Perfluorinated Polymer Electret and Its Application to Micro Power Generation,"
    J. Micromech. Microeng., Vol. 18, No. 10, 104011, 6pp. (2008).
    (doi: 10.1088/0960-1317/18/10/104011)
  • Tsutsumino, T., Suzuki, Y., Kasagi, N., and Sakane, Y.,
    "Seismic Power Generator Using High-Performance Polymer Electret, "
    19th IEEE Int. Conf. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS2006), Istanbul, pp. 98-101 (2006).
    (doi:10.1109/MEMSYS.2006.1627745)

New Charging Method Using Soft X-ray/UV Irradiation

  • Kim, S., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “Photoelectric-charging-enhanced MEMS Electret Energy Harvester with Vacuum Package,” 
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., Vol. 773, No. 012012 (2016).
    (doi:10.1088/1742-6596/773/1/012012)
  • Kim, S., and Suzuki, Y., 
    “MEMS Comb-Drive Electret Energy Harvester Charged after Packaging,”
    IEEE Sensors 2016, Orlando, pp. 1239-1241 (2016).
    (doi:10.1109/ICSENS.2016.7808819)
  • Hagiwara, K., Goto, M., Iguchi, Y., Tajima, T., Yasuno, Y., Kodama, H., Kidokoro, K., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “Electret Charging Method Based on Soft X-ray Photoionization for MEMS Applications,”
    Trans. IEEE, Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 1291-1298 (2012).
    (doi:10.1109/TDEI.2012.6260003)
  • Honzumi, M., Hagiwara, K., Iguchi, Y., and Suzuki, Y.,
    "High-Speed Electret Charging Method Using Vacuum UV Irradiation,"
    Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 98, 052901, (2011).
    (doi: 10.1063/1.3548866)

Low-resonant-frequency MEMS Structure

  • Minakawa, Y., and Suzuki, Y.,
    Low-resonant-frequency MEMS Electret Energy Harvester with X-Shaped High-aspect-ratio Parylene Spring,”
    Proc. 12th Int. Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS 2012), Atlanta, pp. 133-136, (2012).
  • Kamezawa, C., Suzuki, Y., and Kasagi, N.,
    "Mechanical Response Evaluation of High-thermally-stable-grade Parylene Spring,"
    22nd IEEE Int. Conf. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS2009), Sorrento, pp. 615-618 (2009).
    (doi:MEMSYS.2009.4805457)
  • Suzuki, Y., and Tai, Y.-C.,
    "Micromachined High-Aspect-Ratio Parylene Spring and Its Application to Low-frequency Accelerometers,"
    J. Microelectromech. Syst., Vol. 15, No. 5, pp. 1364-1370 (2006).
    (doi:10.1109/JMEMS.2006.879706)

MEMS Electret Energy Harvester

  • Murotani, K., and Suzuki, Y.,
    "MEMS Electret Energy Harvester with Embedded Bistable Electrostatic Spring for Broadband Response,"
    J. Micromech. Microeng., Vol. 28, Issue 10, No. 104001 (2018).
    (doi:10.1088/1361-6439/aac8cc)
  • Fu, Q., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “In-plane Gap-closing MEMS Vibration Electret Energy Harvester on Thick BOX Layer,”
    18th Int. Conf. Solid-state Sensors, Actuators, and Microsystems (Transducers ’15), Anchorage, pp. 1925-1928, (2015).
    (doi:10.1109/TRANSDUCERS.2015.7181328)
  • Fu, Q., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “A Design Method of In-plane MEMS Electret Energy Harvester with Comb Drives,” 
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., Vol. 557, No. 012011 (2014).
    (doi:10.1088/1742-6596/557/1/012011)
  • Fu, Q., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “MEMS Vibration Electret Energy Harvester with Combined Electrodes,”
    27th IEEE Int. Conf. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS’14), San Francisco, pp. 409-412, (2014).
    (doi:10.1109/MEMSYS.2014.6765663)
  • Matsumoto, K., Saruwatari, K., and Suzuki, Y.,
    Vibration-powered Battery-less Sensor Node Using Electret Generator,”
    11th Int. Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS 2011), Seoul, pp. 134-137 (2011).
  • Suzuki, Y., Miki, D., Edamoto, M., and Honzumi, M.,
    “A MEMS Electret Generator With Electrostatic Levitation For Vibration-Driven Energy Harvesting Applications,”
    J. Micromech. Microeng., Vol. 20, Issue. 10, No. 104002, 8pp, (2010).
    (doi:10.1088/0960-1317/20/10/104002)

Rotational Electret Energy Harvester

  • Miyoshi, T., Adachi, M., Tanaka, Y., and Suzuki, Y., 
    ”Low-profile Rotational Electret Energy Harvester for Battery-less Wearable Device,”
    Invited talk, IEEE/ASME Int. Conf. on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM 2018), Auckland, TuBT5.6 (2018).
    (doi:10.1109/AIM.2018.8452249)
  • Miyoshi, T., Adachi, M., Suzuki, K., Liu, Y., and Suzuki, Y., 
    “Low-profile Rotational Electret Generator Using Print Circuit Board for Energy Harvesting from Arm Swing,”
    31th IEEE Int. Conf. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS’18), Belfast, pp. 230-232 (2018).
    (doi:MEMSYS.2018.8346526)
  • Adachi, M., Miyoshi, T., Suzuki, K., Fu, Q., Fang, Q., and Suzuki, Y., 
    “Development of Rotational Electret Energy Harvester Using Print Circuit Board,” 
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., Vol. 1052, 012062 (2018).
    (doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1052/1/012062)
  • Nakano, J., Komori, K., and Hattori, Y., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “MEMS Rotational Electret Energy Harvester for Human Motion,”
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., Vol. 660, No. 012052 (2015).
    (doi:10.1088/1742-6596/660/1/012052

MEMS-basd Piezoelectric Polymer Electret

  • Lu, Y., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “Push-button Kinetic Energy Harvester with Soft-X-ray-Charged Folded Multilayer Piezoelectret,”
    18th Int. Conf. on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS 2018), Daytona Beach, W3B-01 (2018) (Best Paper Award Finalist).
  • Lu, J., and Suzuki, Y., 
    “Soft X-ray-Charged Multilayered Piezoelectret with Embedded Electrode for Push-botton Energy Harvesting,”
    31th IEEE Int. Conf. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS2018), Belfast, pp. 646-648 (2018).
    (doi:10.1109/MEMSYS.2018.8346637)
  • Lu, J., Cho, H., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “Soft X-ray Charged Piezoelectret for Kinetic Energy Harvesting,” 
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., Vol. 773, No. 012031 (2016).
    (doi:10.1088/1742-6596/773/1/012031)
  • Feng, Y., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “All-polymer Piezoeelctret Energy Harvester with Embedded PEDOT Electrode,”
    27th IEEE Int. Conf. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS’14), San Francisco, (2014), pp. 374-377.
    (doi:10.1109/MEMSYS.2014.6765654)
  • Feng, Y., Hagiwara, K., Iguchi, Y., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “Trench-filled Cellular Parylene Electret for Piezoelectric Transducer,”
    Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 100, Issue 26, 262901 (2012).
    (doi:10.1063/1.4730952)

Electret-based Energy Harvesting from Unsteady Temperature Change

  • Xie, H., Morimoto, K., and Suzuki, Y., 
    “Electrostatic Unsteady Thermal Energy Harvesting Using Nematic Liquid Crystal,” 
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., Vol. 1052, 012033 (2018).
    (doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1052/1/012033)
  • Xie, H., Morimoto, K., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “Electret-based Unsteady Thermal Energy Harvester Using Potassium Tantalate Niobate Crystal,” 
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., Vol. 773, No. 012023 (2016).
    (doi:10.1088/1742-6596/773/1/012023)
  • Yoshida, J., Morimoto, K., and Suzuki, Y.,
    Electrostatic Thermal Energy Harvester Using Unsteady Temperature Change,”
    13th Int. Workshop on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS 2013), London, (2013), pp. 376-380.

Modeling of Electret Energy Harvester and Proposal of Power Enhancement Methods

  • Liu, Y., Badel, A., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “Dual-stage Electrode Design of Rotational Electret Energy Harvester for Efficient Self-powered SSHI,”
    18th Int. Conf. on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS 2018), Daytona Beach, W2B-02 (2018).
  • Feng, Y., Shao, B., Tang, X., Han, Y., Wu, T., and Suzuki, Y., 
    “Improved Capacitance Model Involving Fringing Effects for Electret-Based Rotational Energy Harvesting Devices,” 
    IEEE Trans. Electr. Dev., Vol. 65, Issue 4, pp. 1597-1703, (2018).
    (doi:10.1109/TED.2018.2803145
  • Kittipaisalsilpa, K., Kato, T., and Suzuki, Y., 
    “Characterization of Fluorinated Nematic Liquid Crystal for High-power Electret Energy Harvester,” 
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., Vol. 1052, 012044 (2018).
    (doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1052/1/012044)
  • Liu, Y., and Suzuki, Y., 
    “Self-powered SSHI for Electret Energy Harvester,” 
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., Vol. 1052, 012022 (2018).
    (doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1052/1/012022)
  • Kittipaisalsilpa, K., Kato, T., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “Liquid-crystal-enhanced Electret Power Generator,”
    29th IEEE Int. Conf. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS’16), Shanghai, pp. 37-40 (2016).
    (doi:10.1109/MEMSYS.2016.7421551)
  • Chen, R., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “Suspended Electrodes for Reducing Parasitic Capacitance in Electret Energy Harvesters,”
    J. Micromech. Microeng., Vol. 23, Issue 12, 125015 (2013).
    (doi:10.1088/0960-1317/23/12/125015)
  • Miki, D., Suzuki, Y., and Kasagi, N.,
    "Effect of Nonlinear External Circuit on Electrostatic Force of Micro Electret Generator,"
    15th Int. Conf. Solid-state Sensors, Actuators, and Microsystems (Transducers' 09), Denver, pp. 636-639 (2009).
    (doi:10.1109/SENSOR.2009.5285405)
  • Marboutin, C., Suzuki, Y., and Kasagi, N.,
    "Optimal Design of Micro Electret Generator for Energy Harvesting,"
    7th Int. Workshop Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS 2007), Freiburg, pp. 141-144 (2007).

Modeling of Arm Swing Motion during Waling for Optimum Design of Rotational Energy Harvester

  • Tanaka, Y., Miyoshi, T., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “Stochastic Modelling of Human Arm Swing Toward Standard Testing for Rotational Energy Harvester,”
    18th Int. Conf. on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications (PowerMEMS 2018), Daytona Beach, T4B-03 (2018).
  • Tanaka, Y., Miyoshi, T., and Suzuki, Y.,
    “Modeling of Arm Motion for Rotational Energy Harvester,”
    J. Phys.: Conf. Ser., Vol. 1052, 012006 (2018).
    (doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1052/1/012006)

International Standardization in IEC/TC47 WG7

  • IEC 62047-28:2017 Semiconductor devices - Micro-electromechanical devices - Part 28: Performance testing method of vibration-driven MEMS electret energy harvesting devices
  • IEC 63150-1 ED1: Semiconductor devices - Measurement and evaluation methods of kinetic energy harvesting devices under practical vibration environment - Part 1: Arbitrary and random mechanical vibrations (FDIS)

Last update: 2019-03-31