Micropower for Remote, Autonomous Microsystems

这个工程微系统：芯片上的“XYZ”项目的目标是解决对开发适合远程自治微系统的电源系统至关重要的问题。任何微型电源的一个关键要素是能够储存能量并在适当的时间以所需的形式提供能量。近年来，微加工技术已经扩展到更广泛的设备，提供了一个全新的功能水平。这些新设备能够与物理世界进行交互，其中重要的一类包括远程自主设备，这些设备旨在在没有物理（硬线）连接的情况下进行通信或供电。提出的工作建立在微系统研究人员以前的经验基础上，以解决开发，演示和评估将微电池与单个芯片上的电子元件集成的方法的基本问题。这将通过设计和制造一个简单的电路来完成，包括电池和适当的电气连接，在顺序集成中。在硅衬底上直接制备微电池的新工艺将被开发出来。此外，目标是开发MEMS开关作为微电池阵列的使能技术，以提供适合远程自主微系统的灵活电源系统。将开发和演示适合微电池使用的开关驱动，这些MEMS开关将连接到微电池阵列以演示系统的性能。

The goal of this Engineering Microsystems: "XYZ" on a Chip project is to address issues that are essential to the development of a power system suitable for remote, autonomous microsystems. A critical element of any micropower supply is the ability to store energy and deliver it at the appropriate time and in the require form. In recent years, microfabrication techniques have been extended to a broader range of devices that offer a whole new level of functionality. These new devices are capable of interacting with the physical world, and an important class of these includes the remote, autonomous devices intended to operate without physical (hardwire) connections for either communication or power.The proposed work builds upon the previous experience of the investigators with microsystems to address fundamental issues to develop, demonstrate and evaluate a method for integration of a microbattery with electronic components on a single chip. This will be accomplished by the design and fabrication of a simple circuit, including the batteries and appropriate electrical connections, in a sequential integration. A new fabrication process will be developed for microbattery fabrication directly in the silicon substrate. In addition, the objective is to develop MEMS switches as an enabling technology for microbattery arrays to provide a flexible power system suitable for remote, autonomous microsystems. Switch actuation suitable for use with microbatteries will be developed and demonstrated, and these MEMS switches will be connected to a microbattery array to demonstrate the performance of the system.