Power Management Scheme Using MEMS switch for Energy Accumulation on Dust-size Wireless Sensor Nodes

摘要

This paper describes a power management scheme using a MEMS switch as a way to accumulate charge even when an energy-harvesting device generates minute current of <10 pA. The voltage monitoring function does not consume any power at all. The scheme is based on zero leakage current and hysteresis of the threshold voltage in the MEMS switch. A node prototype powered by the MEMS switch is implemented. Test chips were fabricated using the 0.35-μm CMOS process and MEMS process. Wireless node operation with the MEMS-switch-based power management is confirmed by the node prototype.