High-Voltage, CMOS-Enabled, and Silicon Wire Array Decorated Photovoltaic Module for Driving Smart Dimming Glasses

We demonstrate a miniaturized silicon photovoltaic (PV) module in standard bulk CMOS for driving smart dimming glasses. The PV is front-illuminated to leverage the high-lifetime silicon denuded zone and is decorated with silicon wire array to reduce the optical reflectivity at silicon/intermediate dielectric interface. Localized substrate removal and post dicing processes are developed to electrically isolate serially-connected PV cells to allow high voltage generation. As-realized PV module provides an adjustable output voltage from 0.45 to 10.8 V and a maximum electrical power of 1 mW in a small form factor. The proof-of-concept experiments validate that this PV module can drive smart dimming glasses with a lifted and controllable voltage, which leads to varied optical transmittance from 70% to 0.5%.