Chengkuo Lee

Electromagnetic energy harvesting from vibrations of multiple frequencies

A novel multi-frequency energy harvester has been designed and fabricated, which consists of three permanent magnets, three sets of two-layer copper coils and a supported beam of acrylic, while these coils are made of thin fire resistant 4 (FR4) substrates using a standard printed circuit board. The energy under the first, second and third resonant modes can be harvested, corresponding to the resonant frequencies of 369 Hz, 938 Hz and 1184 Hz, respectively. The maximum output voltage and power of the first and second vibration modes are 1.38 mV, 0.6 µW and 3.2 mV, 3.2 µW for a 14 µm exciting vibration amplitude and a 0.4 mm gap between the magnet and coils, respectively. The feasibility study results are in good agreement with the theoretical calculations and show promising application potentials.

Piezoelectric MEMS Energy Harvester for Low-Frequency Vibrations With Wideband Operation Range and Steadily Increased Output Power

A piezoelectric MEMS energy harvester (EH) with low resonant frequency and wide operation bandwidth was designed, microfabricated, and characterized. The MEMS piezoelectric energy harvesting cantilever consists of a silicon beam integrated with piezoelectric thin film (PZT) elements parallel-arranged on top and a silicon proof mass resulting in a low resonant frequency of 36 Hz. The whole chip was assembled onto a metal carrier with a limited spacer such that the operation frequency bandwidth can be widened to 17 Hz at the input acceleration of 1.0 g during frequency up-sweep. Load voltage and power generation for different numbers of PZT elements in series and in parallel connections were compared and discussed based on experimental and simulation results. Moreover, the EH device has a wideband and steadily increased power generation from 19.4 nW to 51.3 nW within the operation frequency bandwidth ranging from 30 Hz to 47 Hz at 1.0 g. Based on theoretical estimation, a potential output power of 0.53 μW could be harvested from low and irregular frequency vibrations by adjusting the PZT pattern and spacer thickness to achieve an optimal design.

Self-excited piezoelectric PZT microcantilevers for dynamic SFM—with inherent sensing and actuating capabilities

Abstract Currently three crucial components are necessary for the dynamic SFM, they are the microcantilever, oscillator, and cantilever deflection sensor. We demonstrate a piezoelectric microcantilever made of PZT thin films for SFM. This PZT microcantilever can perform the same functions which have to be done by the three crucial components. It is able to excite itself when an ac voltage is applied to it, and actuate itself in z -directional displacement by a superimposed dc voltage, while force sensing is executed concurrently. Since the motional admittance can be derived from the piezoelectric current output when the PZT microcantilever is vibrated at resonance frequency, the motional admittance will vary as the change of vibrational amplitude. Thus the topography of the sample can be recorded as the trace of the difference between output signals of motional admittance. The piezoelectric coefficient d 31 of the PZT layer is about −58 pC/N. The dimensions of piezoelectric microcantilevers used are 125×50×3.8 μm. The actuating ability is estimated as 75 nm/V. The vertical resolution of the self-excited PZT microcantilever can be derived as 1.2 A at the bandwidth of 125 Hz. Very clear images of a 1.0 μm pitch Au coated SiO 2 grating and an evaporated gold film on a smooth glass plate are obtained by an SFM using this self-excited force sensing PZT microcantilever. The invention of this smart PZT microcantilever endows the possibility of constructing a stand-alone micro SFM system and a multiprobe SFM system.

Design, Fabrication, and Characterization of CMOS MEMS-Based Thermoelectric Power Generators

This paper presents the design, modeling, fabrication, and characterization of CMOS microelectromechanical-systems-based thermoelectric power generators (TPGs) to convert waste heat into a few microwatts of electrical power. Phosphorus and boron heavily doped polysilicon thin films are patterned and electrically connected to consist thermopiles in the TPGs. To optimize heat flux, the thermal legs are embedded between the top and bottom vacuum cavities, which are sealed on the wafer level at low temperature. A heat-sink layer is coated on the cold side of the device to effectively disperse heat from the cold side of the device to ambient air. The peripheral cavity is designed to isolate heat from the surrounding silicon substrate. Both simulation and experiments are implemented to validate that the energy conversion efficiency is highly improved due to the aforementioned three unique designs. The device has been fabricated by a CMOS-compatible process. Properties of thermoelectric material, such as the Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, and specific contact resistance are measured through test structures. For a device in the size of 1 cm2 and with a 5-K temperature difference across the two sides, the open-circuit voltage is 16.7 V and the output power is 1.3 ¿W under matched load resistance. Such energy can be efficiently accumulated as useful electricity over time and can prolong the battery life.

Investigation of a MEMS piezoelectric energy harvester system with a frequency-widened-bandwidth mechanism introduced by mechanical stoppers

This paper presents the design, microfabrication, modeling and characterization of a piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) system with a wide operating bandwidth introduced by mechanical stoppers. The wideband frequency responses of the PEH system with stoppers on one side and two sides are investigated thoroughly. The experimental results show that the operating bandwidth is broadened to 18?Hz (30?48?Hz) and the corresponding optimal power ranges from 34 to 100?nW at the base acceleration of 0.6g and under top-?and bottom-stopper distances of 0.75?mm and 1.1?mm, respectively. By adjusting the mechanical stopper distance, the output power and frequency bandwidth can be optimized accordingly.

Hybrid energy harvester based on piezoelectric and electromagnetic mechanisms

A novel hybrid energy harvester integrated with piezoelectric and electromagnetic energy harvesting mechanisms is investigated. It contains a piezoelectric cantilever of multilayer piezoelectric transducer (PZT) ceramics, permanent magnets, and substrate of two-layer coils. The effect of the relative position of coils and magnets on the PZT cantilever end and the poling direction of magnets on the output voltage of the energy harvester is explored. When the poling direction of magnets is normal to the coils plane, the coils yield the maximum output voltage, i.e., the type I and III devices. The maximum output voltage and power from the PZT cantilever of the type III device are 0.84 V and 176 µW under the vibrations of 2.5-g acceleration at 310 Hz, respectively. And the maximum output voltage and power from the coils are 0.78 mV and 0.19 µW under the same conditions, respectively. The power density from the type III device is derived as 790 µW/cm3 from piezoelectric components and 0.85 µW/cm3 from electromagnetic elements.

Deflection detection and feedback actuation using a self‐excited piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 microcantilever for dynamic scanning force microscopy

We have developed a dynamic scanning force microscope (SFM) that utilizes microfabricated Pb(Zr,Ti)O3, (PZT) cantilever for lever excitation, deflection sensing and tip‐sample spacing control. The lever is a unimorph centilever including a sol–gel derived PZT thin film that has high piezoelectric constants in comparison with sputtered ZnO films. For dynamic operation, the excitation ac voltage signal superimposed on the actuation dc voltage is applied to the PZT layer. The variation of vibration amplitude is detected by measuring the change of current through the layer. By actuating the self‐excited cantilever to keep the current constant, we obtain topography images without z actuation of the sample‐side scanner. The 200‐μm‐long PZT microcantilever with the natural resonance frequency of 63.8 kHz has the high actuation sensitivity of 150 nm/V and the maximum range of more than 1.5 μm. Using the SFM, we have obtained the clear cyclic contact images of an evaporated Au film surface.

Micromachined piezoelectric force sensors based on PZT thin films

A micromachined lead zirconate titanate (PZT) force sensor for scanning force microscope (SFM) is conceptualized by its piezoelectricity. The fabrication procedure is interpreted, and mechanical characteristics of the micromachined PZT force sensors with various lengths are studied in this paper. A compact SFM is constructed by using the piezoelectric PZT sensor. A very clear image is taken by this SFM. The current study of the micromachined PZT force sensor can be considered as a breakthrough of design of SFM as well as a good example of integrated piezoelectric microdevices.

Development of stress-induced curved actuators for a tunable THz filter based on double split-ring resonators

Using stress-induced curved cantilevers to form double split-ring resonator (DSRR) in three-dimensional configuration, an electrically tunable microelectromechanical system (MEMS) based out-of-plane metamaterials THz filter is experimentally demonstrated and characterized. While the achieved tunable range for the resonant frequency is 0.5 THz at 20 V bias, quality factor of the resonant frequency is improved as well. This MEMS based THz filter using released DSRR structures shows its potential in tunable metamaterials applications such as sensors, optical switches, and filters.

Computational Study of Photonic Crystals Nano-Ring Resonator for Biochemical Sensing

We investigated the characteristics of photonic crystals (PCs) nano-ring resonators as biochemical sensors theoretically. The new nano-ring resonators were formed by removing holes of a hexagon from a two-dimensional (2-D) silicon PC slab in hexagonal lattice. Resonant peak with quality factor of about 3000 is reported. Biomolecules, e.g., DNAs, trapped in a hole functionalized with molecule probes made the wavelength shift of resonant peak derived in the output terminal. The sensitivity of various sensing holes along the nano-ring was characterized. This new PC nano-ring resonator demonstrated promising features as a biochemical sensor.