Microchip powers itself with solar cells

Autonomous solar-powered chip enables energy harvesting from indoor light for IoT sensors and wireless nodes, using amorphous silicon micro solar cells, sub-milliwatt power, and integrated antennas, presented at IEDM by MESA+ and partners.

Scientists have developed microchips capable of running without batteries or electricity, instead harvesting energy using tiny solar cells placed on the chip's microelectronics.

Researchers from the University of Twente's MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology in the Netherlands, highlighting recent advances in nanoelectronics that are shaping the field, presented the autonomous chip at this month's International Electron Device Meeting in San Francisco, along with partners from the universities of Nankai and Utrecht.

The development could improve wireless technologies, by integrating nanogenerators for self-powered operation, with the potential for producing sensor chips that could even have small antennas.

Although the chip would not rely on external electricity sources or batteries and could leverage vibration energy harvesting when needed, the researchers said the chip's energy use must be under 1 milliwatt, 1/1000th of a watt.

The chip can collect enough energy to operate indoors, researchers said. According to the online journal Science Daily, tests showed that the chips with the solar cells functioned properly, and other research demonstrates electricity from snow under certain conditions.

To minimize production costs, scientists suggested the chips could be used as a base, with the solar cell layers applied to it later. This process would use fewer materials and increase energy production, similar to how microfiber fabric generators improve wearable devices.

The solar cells could be manufactured from materials such as amorphous silicon, which would produce power in low light without interfering with the electronics.

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