An Integrated Power Supply System for Low Power 3.3 V Electronics Using On-Chip Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells

• Published in: IEEE journal of solid-state circuits 2010-01, Vol.45 (1), p.205-213
• Main Authors: Frank, M., Kuhl, M., Erdler, G., Freund, I., Manoli, Y., Muller, C., Reinecke, H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Biomembranes; Circuit properties; Circuits; CMOS compatible chip-integrated micro fuel cell; CMOS process; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electronic circuits; electronic control circuit; Electronic equipment and fabrication. Passive components, printed wiring boards, connectics; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Fuel cells; Integrated circuits; integrated metal hydrogen storage; Network-on-a-chip; Oscillators; Oscillators, resonators, synthetizers; Polymers; Power electronics, power supplies; Power supplies; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; stabilized on-chip power supply; System-on-a-chip; Timing
• ISSN: 0018-9200; 1558-173X
• DOI: 10.1109/JSSC.2009.2034441

A stabilized power supply realized by chip-integrated micro fuel cells within an extended CMOS process is presented in this paper. The fuel cell system delivers a maximum power output of 450 ¿ W/cm 2 . The electronic control circuitry consists of an LDO, an on-chip oscillator and a programmable timing network. The core system consumes an average power of 620 nW. The system reaches a current efficiency of up to 92% and provides a constant output voltage of 3.3 V.