High efficient III-V on Silicon Energy Harvesting devices for low cost battery-free IoT applications

该联盟由Lightricity（主要合作伙伴）、ICS、IQE和Microsemi组成，旨在生产超高效和具有成本效益的III-V硅基能量收集设备，可针对成本敏感的物联网应用量身定制。Lightricity的技术利用多年创新开发的技术，在室内低照度环境中提供世界领先的效率（效率>30%）。将该技术设计和转移到大型硅衬底（高达12英寸）上将利用现有的硅基大规模生产设施。IQE拥有多年的外延经验，为III-V族外延生长提供Ge on Si模板。结合ICS开发的创新晶圆级加工技术和Microsemi的嵌入式芯片封装技术，该项目将大幅降低制造成本，并使Lightricity技术快速扩展到成本敏感和尺寸受限的应用领域（资产跟踪、工业物联网）或更耗电的应用（例如气体传感器、成像设备）。主要交付成果是一款低成本的III-V硅基能量收集设备，该设备将为两个概念验证演示者提供可再生能源，涵盖两个主要的物联网领域：工业和零售业。合作伙伴将展示新开发的低成本能量收集组件在自供电无线蓝牙低功耗（BLE）跟踪器和电子货架标签原型上的适用性。该技术在零售行业的市场推广和未来开发将得到来自联合利华的无偿最终用户Ahead-of-the-Curve的支持。无线连接将由设备制造商Dialog Semiconductor（无偿合作伙伴）提供支持，提供超低功耗和小尺寸无线BLE芯片组。除了能量收集领域，该项目还将为将可靠和高性能的III-V族器件部署到低成本传感器和消费电子产品中开辟新的机会。

The consortium comprising Lightricity (Lead partner), ICS, IQE and Microsemi aims to produce ultra-efficient and cost effective III-V on Silicon energy harvesting devices that can be tailored for cost sensitive miniaturised IoT applications.Utilising technology developed through many years of innovation, Lightricity's technology already delivers world leading efficiency (\>30% efficiency) in low light level indoor environments. Design and transfer of that technology onto large Silicon substrates (up to 12 inch) will leverage existing Silicon-based mass production facilities. IQE has many years of epitaxial experience growing Ge on Si templates for III-V overgrowth.Combined with innovative wafer-level processing techniques developed at ICS and embedded die packaging technology at Microsemi, this project will drastically reduce the manufacturing costs and enable rapid scale-up of Lightricity technology into cost sensitive and size-constrained applications (asset tracking, industrial IoT), or more power-hungry applications (e.g. gas sensors, imaging devices).The key deliverable is a low cost miniaturised III-V on silicon energy harvesting device that will provide renewable power to two proof of concept demonstrators covering two main IoT segments: industrial and retail. The partners will demonstrate applicability of the newly developed low-cost Energy Harvesting component on a self-powered wireless Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tracker and Electronic Shelf Labels prototypes.Route to market and future exploitation of the technology within the retail industry will be supported by unpaid end-user Ahead-of-the-Curve, a spin-out from Unilever. Wireless connectivity will be supported by device manufacturer Dialog Semiconductor (unpaid partner), providing ultra-low power and small footprint wireless BLE chipsets.Beyond the energy harvesting field, this project will also open up new opportunities for deployment of reliable and high performance III-V devices into low cost sensors and consumer electronics.