A fully integrated electromagnetic energy harvesting circuit with an on-chip antenna for biomedical implants in 180 nm SOI CMOS

This paper presents an energy harvesting platform for biomedical implantable sensors based on a far-field electromagnetic radiation. The design is composed of an on-chip dipole antenna and a multi stage Dickson voltage rectifier with threshold compensation order of 4. The operating range is up to 15 cm, including 1 cm of biological tissue with high water content. The optimum frequency for power transmission into the implanted chip through multiple biological tissues is studied as well. The system is fabricated in a 180 nm SOI CMOS technology with a total area of 0.42 mm². The chip can provide 1V DC for a 1MΩ resistive load when excited with an 11.2 GHz external transmitter. The maximum efficiency of the wireless link is measured as -51 dB. The voltage rectifier can provide 1V for the 1MΩ load with input power as low as 23 μW (-16.3 dBm).