Suspended Graphene Energy Harvesting Solid State Structure

Background:

Even low power devices need consistent, reliable energy sources that in most cases must be powered indefinitely in order to accomplish the device’s objectives. Maintaining a secure and independent energy source for powering small, sometimes camouflaged devices is always of the upmost concern in hardware security. In many instances, these devices need to blend into their environment and are often packaged to conceal their identity further. This typically requires either tying into existing energy sources or providing an energy source for the device itself. The most commonly deployed sources are conventional batteries, which lose charge over time depending on use. In order to traverse these obstacles, national defense contractors and researchers are focusing on fabricating a solid-state energy harvesting solution from conventional 300 mm silicon-based semiconductor technology that can eliminate the need for an external power source.

Technology Overview:

Ambient environments provide a great deal of background energy but historically, harvesting that energy has been virtually impossible due to technology constraints. Recent discoveries of a new phenomenon called graphene energy harvesting has been proposed where charge is transferred from a suspended layer of graphene that exhibits an oscillatory behavior, to a conductive “tip” structure, thus providing energy to the integrated circuit. If coupled with a specific circuitry design, one can extract and utilize this charge when the suspended graphene oscillates due to interactions from the ambient environment. The graphene and tip are the critical feature of this charging circuit that stores the charge, which can be later utilized to power a device. See Figure 1 as an example.

Advantages:

•    Renewable Energy Source
•    Battery Storage and Replenishment
•    Ultra-Low Power devices
•    Self-Powering Devices
•    Graphene
•    Energy Harvesting

Applications:

•    Ultra-Low Powered devices
•    Military applications
•    Surveillance devices
•    Medical devices

Intellectual Property Summary:

Patent application filed
“SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES INCLUDING SUSPENDED GRAPHENE AND METHODS OF FORMING SAME”
Pat. Ref. 014-2145P01
US Pat. No.: 63/287,784

Licensing Status:

This technology is available for licensing.

Additional Information:

 
 Figure 1: This is an example of the energy harvesting device, made possible by the oscillatory behavior of suspending graphene.