Design of High-Efficiency Microwatt RF Energy Harvesting System

A radio frequency energy harvesting (RFEH) system can harvest and utilize radio frequency (RF) energy in the natural environment. The fully integrated circuit of the RFEH system with the ultralow power consumption is designed and implemented in this article, including the receiving antenna, matching circuit, RF-dc rectifier circuit, and power management unit. The key parameters are calculated and simulated, and the power consumption model of the system is established. Optimization of the power consumption is conducted. The overall power conversion efficiency of the microwatt-level RFEH system is 31.77%, which has potential application in fields, such as wireless energy transmission and portable device power supply. The circuit is designed and implemented based on Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company limited (TSMC) CMOS 0.18-
μ
m technology.