A Compact High-Efficiency Broadband RF Rectifier for Energy Harvesting Applications

This work presents a broadband RF rectifier for Wireless Power Transfer applications. The proposed circuit is based on a voltage doubling configuration of SMS7630 packaged diodes, and a new impedance matching approach composed of a microstrip transmission line and an SMD inductor, which enables RF energy harvesting over a wide frequency range with low device area. Experimental measurement demonstrated an efficiency greater than 50% over a bandwidth of 92% (0.68 - 1.84 GHz) for 0 dBm of input power and a 1.5 kΩ of load, with a maximum efficiency of 67.6% at the 1.03 GHz frequency.