Long-Range, mm-Scale Wireless Optical Power Delivery Using Nanophotonic Antennas and Integrated Power Management

近几十年来，受半导体指数（摩尔定律）缩放、便携式计算和通信设备的普及以及包括生物医学设备、交通和航空航天在内的其他应用的推动，对无线供电的需求不断增长。该项目将探索通过自由空间光学（近红外激光）电源向小型（毫米级）硅集成电路供电。该项目的目标是通过半导体光学/光子学和低功耗集成电路设计的跨学科努力，研究和证明在硅平台上远程光功率传输的可行性。该项目将主要关注光接收器技术，包括纳米光子天线的设计和制造，将能量集中到小型硅基光伏电池中，并以低成本的标准工艺流程实施。该项目的电路部分将探索从光学元件中提取最大能量的方法，并在片上介电能量存储和低压嵌入式电路负载之间提供无缝接口。该项目将支持达特茅斯大学本科和研究生课程的教育机会，以及扩大正在进行的K-12外展项目和与公众的沟通。这方面的一个例子是达特茅斯大学为高三学生组织的“设计，建造”夏季训练营，吸引了来自全国各地的学生，并通过提供奖学金支持鼓励背景不被充分代表的学生参加。该项目将探索与毫米级光功率传输相关的几个有前途的技术方向。第一个方向是设计和实现近红外（~850 nm）纳米光子天线结构，它可以将光功率集中到以光伏（PV）模式工作的小型光电二极管（PDs）上。这些具有将光能集中到非常小的光活性结构中的优点，这可以提高量子效率并减少光电子器件所需的有源面积，从而减小整体尺寸。其次，我们将探索在SOI或三阱CMOS中的集成策略，其中多个光电二极管可以动态地在并联和串联堆叠中重新配置。这将有助于减轻电力电路的压力，实现更高的系统效率，并受益于光伏（PV）系统电源管理的最新发展。第三，我们计划开发一种基于高密度开关电容器（SC）转换器的新型电源管理方法，该方法可以在高压介质存储和低压嵌入式系统负载之间提供高效的调节和功率点跟踪。提出的SC架构建立在pi过去在芯片级功率转换方面的工作基础上，该架构可以减轻光伏阵列中的系统能量损失机制，以及可以提高效率和功率密度的高阶交错和底板回收的新方向。

The need for wireless power delivery has grown in recent decades, driven by exponential (Moore's law) semiconductor scaling, the pervasiveness of portable computing and communications devices, and other applications including biomedical devices, transportation and aerospace. This project will explore delivering power to small (mm-scale) silicon integrated circuits via a free-space optical (near-IR laser) power source. The goal of the project is to study and demonstrate the feasibility of long-range optical power delivery in a silicon platform through an interdisciplinary effort on semiconductor optics/photonics and low power integrated circuit design. This project will focus primarily on the optical receiver technology including the design and fabrication of nanophotonic antennas to concentrate energy into small silicon-based photovoltaic cells that are implemented in a low-cost standard process flow. The circuits portion of the project will explore methods to extract maximum energy from the optical elements and provide a seamless interface between on-chip dielectric energy storage and a low-voltage embedded circuit load. This project will support educational opportunities in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum at Dartmouth, as well as an expansion of ongoing K-12 outreach programs and communication with the general public. An example of this is the Dartmouth-organized 'Design-it, Build-it' summer bootcamp for high school juniors and seniors that attracts students from around the country and encourages students with underrepresented backgrounds to attend through the provision of scholarship support.This project will explore several promising technical directions related to mm-scale optical power delivery. A first direction is the design and implementation of near-IR (~850 nm) nanophotonic antenna structures, which can concentrate optical power to small photodiodes (PDs) operated in photovoltaic (PV) mode. These have the advantage of concentrating optical energy into very small optically-active structures, which can improve quantum efficiency and reduce active area needed for optoelectronics, thereby decreasing overall size. Second, we will explore integration strategies in SOI or triple-well CMOS where multiple photodiodes can be dynamically reconfigured in parallel and series stacks. This will help alleviate stress on the power circuitry, enable much higher system efficiency, and benefit from recent developments in power management for photovoltaic (PV) systems. Third, we plan to develop a novel power management approach based on high-density switched capacitor (SC) converters that can provide efficient regulation and power-point tracking with a monolithic implementation while interfacing between high-voltage dielectric storage and a low-voltage embedded system load. The proposed SC architecture builds on past work by the PIs in chip-scale power conversion, architectures that can to mitigate systemic energy loss mechanisms in photovoltaic arrays, and new directions in high-order interleaving and bottom plate recycling that can improve efficiency and power-density.