access icon openaccess Low start-up voltage dc–dc converter with negative voltage control for thermoelectric energy harvesting

This Letter presents a low start-up voltage dc–dc converter for low-power thermoelectric systems which uses a native n-type MOS transistor as the start-up switch. The start-up voltage of the proposed converter is 300 mV and the converter does not need batteries to start up. The negative voltage control is proposed to reduce the leakage current caused by native n-type transistor and increase the efficiency. The proposed converter was designed using standard 0.18 µm CMOS process with chip size of 0.388 mm2. The peak efficiency is 63% at load current of 1.5 mA. The proposed converter provides output voltage >1 V at maximum load current of 3.2 mA.

Inspec keywords: power MOSFET; voltage control; leakage currents; energy harvesting; thermoelectric conversion; CMOS integrated circuits; DC-DC power convertors

Other keywords: current 1.5 mA; low start-up voltage DC-DC converter; low-power thermoelectric systems; start-up switch; thermoelectric energy harvesting; voltage 300 mV; thermoelectric generator; native n-type MOS transistor; negative voltage control; 0.18 μm CMOS process; current 3.2 mA; leakage current reduction; peak efficiency

Subjects: Power electronics, supply and supervisory circuits; Energy harvesting; Power system protection; Dielectric materials and properties; DC-DC power convertors; Power semiconductor devices; CMOS integrated circuits; Energy harvesting; Insulated gate field effect transistors; Thermoelectric conversion; Other direct energy conversion

References

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      • 1. Pathirana, W.P.M.R., Muhtaroglu, A.: ‘A low voltage DC–DC conversion without magnetic components for energy harvesting’. Int. Conf. on Energy Aware Computing, Guzelyurt, Cyprus, December 2012, pp. 16.
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      • 3. Pathirana, W.P.M.R., Muhtaroglu, A.: ‘Low voltage fully integrated dc–dc converter for self-powered temperature sensors’. Int. Workshop on Thermal Investigations of ICs and Systems, Berlin, Germany, September 2013, pp. 352355.
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http://iet.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1049/joe.2014.0252
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content/journals/10.1049/joe.2014.0252
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