Round-the-Clock Power from Smart Bowties
February 5, 2018 | KAUSTEstimated reading time: 1 minute
Most sunlight striking the Earth is absorbed by its surfaces, oceans and atmosphere. As a result of this warming, infrared radiation is emitted constantly all around us—estimated to be millions of Gigawatts per second. A KAUST team has now developed a device that can tap into this energy, as well as waste heat from industrial processes, by transforming quadrillionth-of-a-second wave signals into useful electricity.
Unlike solar panels that are limited by daylight hours and weather conditions, infrared heat can be harvested 24 hours a day. One way to achieve this is to treat waste or infrared heat as high-frequency electromagnetic waves. Using appropriately designed antennas, collected waves are sent to a rectifier, typically a semiconductor diode, that converts alternating signals to direct current charge for batteries or power devices.
Putting these ‘rectenna’ designs into practice has been difficult. Because infrared emissions have very small wavelengths, they need micro- or nanoscale antennas that are not easy to fabricate or test. Additionally, infrared waves oscillate thousands of times faster than a typical semiconductor can move electrons through its junction. “There is no commercial diode in the world that can operate at such high frequency,” says Atif Shamim, project leader from KAUST. “That’s why we turned to quantum tunneling.”
Tunneling devices, such as metal-insulator-metal (MIM) diodes, rectify infrared waves into current by moving electrons through a small barrier. Since this barrier is only a nanometer thin, MIM diodes can handle high-frequency signals on the order of femtoseconds. To generate the intense fields needed for tunneling, the team turned to a unique ‘bowtie-shaped' nano-antenna that sandwiches the thin insulator film between two slightly overlapped metallic arms.
"The most challenging part was the nanoscale overlap of the two antenna arms, which required very precise alignment,” says postdoctoral researcher, Gaurav Jayaswal. “Nonetheless, by combining clever tricks with the advanced tools at KAUST’s nanofabrication facility we accomplished this step".
By choosing metals with different work functions, the new MIM diode could catch the infrared waves with zero applied voltage, a passive feature that switches the device on only when needed. Experiments with infrared exposure revealed the bowtie successfully harvested energy solely from the radiation, and not from thermal effects, as evidenced by a polarization-dependent output voltage.
“This is just the beginning—a proof of concept,” says Shamim. “We could have millions of such devices connected to boost overall electricity generation.”
Suggested Items
Keysight Enabling University of Stuttgart to Advance 6G Integrated Circuits Research
08/10/2023 | Keysight Technologies, Inc.Keysight Technologies, Inc. is enabling the University of Stuttgart to conduct foundational research essential to development of new integrated circuits (IC) for 6G technology with the new Keysight 6G Vector Component Analysis (VCA) solution.
KSG Group Puts Horizontal OSP Line for Organic Surfaces into Operation
07/31/2023 | KSG GroupThe KSG Group has expanded its capacities in the field of organic surface coating by bringing a new wet-chemical horizontal system online.
Mil/Aero Design: Not Just Another High-Rel Board
07/25/2023 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineMeijing Liu, CID+, is a senior PCB designer for Microart Services, an EMS company in Markham, Ontario, Canada. She recently took a six-week military/aerospace PCB design class from IPC’s Kris Moyer, and she was surprised at how much content she was able to absorb in such a short time. I spoke with Meijing and we discussed some of her takeaways from the class, and how it has inspired her to pursue more design education in the future.
MACOM Awarded U.S. Air Force Contract for Advanced Semiconductor Development
07/20/2023 | Business WireMACOM Technology Solutions Inc., a leading supplier of semiconductor products, announced that it has been awarded a contract from the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (“AFRL”) to develop advanced semiconductor process technology related to Gallium Nitride-on-Silicon Carbide (“GaN-on-SiC”).
Standard of Excellence: Today’s Hottest Technology Trends
07/21/2023 | Anaya Vardya -- Column: Standard of ExcellenceNo matter what anyone says, printed circuit boards are the backbone of modern electronics. Without the PCB, what will the components attach to? Without advancements in printed circuit board technology, products of the future would be impossible. It is our responsibility to be there when our customers need us—today and in the future. That means recognizing the latest trends and making the most of them. Here's what I see is trending in microelectronics.