MEMS design and fabrication of an electrostatic vibration-to-electricity energy converter

This paper presents a micro electrostatic vibration-to-electricity energy converter based on the micro-electromechanical system. For the 3.3V supply voltage and 1cm² chip area constraints, optimal design parameters were found from theoretical calculation and Simulink simulation. In the current design, the output power is 200μW/cm² for the optimal load of 8MΩ. The device was fabricated in a silicon-on-insulator wafer. Mechanical and electrical measurements were conducted. Residual particles caused shortage of the variable capacitor and the output power could not be measured. Fabrication processes are being refined to remove the back silicon substrate to eliminate residual particles and parasitic capacitance.