Efficient Power Management Circuit: From Thermal Energy Harvesting to Above-IC Microbattery Energy Storage

An autonomous power generator unit including two micropower sources and their management IC has been fabricated: a RF power receiver and a 1 V miniature thermogenerator combined with a micropower DC/DC up-converter are combined with a 78% efficiency manager and charger, and a 5 nW discharge monitor to manage and store the harvested energy in a 30 above-IC deposited microbattery.