Flexible W-Band Rectifiers for 5G-powered IoT Autonomous Modules

The new regulatory and technological mm-wave landscape has opened a plethora of opportunities for the powering of flexible and wearable IoT motes, powered by the harvesting of such electromagnetic waves. Nevertheless, the availability and integration of rectifying diodes for such devices are a source of challenges. In this effort, the authors chose a potential candidate of a rectifying element, a W-band Zero-Bias Detector, and analyzed its characteristics, by fine-tuning a set of rectifiers covering all of the aforementioned bands, ranging from 24GHz to 81GHz. The simulated performance of these flexible rectifiers was analyzed and demonstrated their adequate harvesting performance for this application. This study thereby sets the foundation for the development of a new class of low-cost flexible and printable 5G-powered IoT devices and systems.