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Fabrication, characterization and modelling of electrostatic micro-generators

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2009 J. Micromech. Microeng. 19 094001

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IOP PUBLISHING JOURNAL OF MICROMECHANICS AND MICROENGINEERING
J. Micromech. Microeng. 19 (2009) 094001 (11pp) doi:10.1088/0960-1317/19/9/094001

Fabrication, characterization
and modelling of electrostatic
micro-generators
Daniel Hoffmann1 , Bernd Folkmer1 and Yiannos Manoli1,2
1
HSG-IMIT, Institute of Micromachining and Information Technology, Wilhelm-Schickard-Straße 10,
78052 Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany
2
Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee
102, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
E-mail: daniel.hoffmann@hsg-imit.de

Received 13 January 2009, in final form 30 March 2009

Published 26 August 2009
Online at stacks.iop.org/JMM/19/094001

Abstract
This paper presents an electrostatic energy-harvesting device for electrical energy extraction
from vibrations. We successfully fabricated prototypes of completely packaged
micro-generators with a chip size of 5 mm by 6 mm. This was achieved using a modified SOI
technology developed for inertial sensors at HSG-IMIT. Micro-generators produce a
maximum rms power of 3.5 μW when they are excited at their resonance frequency with an
input excitation of 13 g. During a long-term experiment over a period of 2 h, the electrostatic
energy harvester generated a total net energy of 13.38 mJ corresponding to an average power
of 1.58 μW. The effect of mechanical stoppers and the bias voltage on the generated power is
also evaluated. In order to get a more profound understanding of the dynamic behaviour of the
micro-generator, we have developed a signal-flow model for numerical simulation of the
electrostatic transducer on system level. This model includes a mechanical and an electrical
domain which are coupled by electrostatic forces. The limited displacement of the proof mass
is also considered using an elastic stopper model. We show that the numerical model is
capable of providing good predictions of the device behaviour.
(Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

1. Introduction (also transduction coefficient), describing the conversion

The choice of a specific transducer mechanism for energy
harvesting from vibrations is heavily dependent on both
the operating conditions (amplitude and frequency spectrum
of the excitation source) and available space given by the
application environment. If miniaturization of the generator
is an important issue and generator devices are required at
a large production scale, electrostatic MEMS transducers
are the preferred choice. On the one hand, this is due
to the fact that electrostatic forces (s2 ) scale at a different
rate than electromagnetic forces (s3 ) [1]. As a result,
utilizing the electrostatic transduction mechanism seems to
be advantageous when miniaturization is required. However,
in the field of vibration energy harvesting, it is more
practical to use the electromechanical coupling coefficient
efficiency of a generator, as an evaluation criterion. It
can be shown that the electromagnetic coupling coefficient
kem = N · l · B [2] for a moving conductor coil in a constant
magnetic field B scales with s2 if the internal resistance of the
coil and the remanence BR of the permanent magnet is kept
constant. In contrast, the electrostatic coupling coefficient
kes = ε · l · E [2] of an area-overlap varying capacitor scales
with s1 if the electric field E in the gap is constant. Therefore,
when the system decreases by a factor of 100 in size, the
electrostatic coupling coefficient decreases by a factor of 100,
whereas the electromagnetic coupling coefficient decreases
by a factor of 1000. From this it can be concluded that
the electrostatic conversion mechanism is more efficient for
vibration generators of the size of a typical MEMS device.

0960-1317/09/094001+11$30.00 1 © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

J. Micromech. Microeng. 19 (2009) 094001
On the other hand, the technology for manufacturing
electrostatic transducers such as capacitive-based sensors and
actuators is well established. It is therefore beneficial to
utilize standard MEMS technology for manufacturing micro-
generators based on electrostatic transduction. This will allow
the production of generator devices in large numbers at low
cost. Moreover, easy integration with electronics is also
provided since standard packages as used for inertial sensors
are employed for packaging. Therefore, electrostatic micro-
generator devices can be handled and manipulated as any other
electronic component providing a high level of integration.
The energy conversion mechanism of an electrostatic
transducer is based on electrostatic forces coupling the
electrical and the mechanical domains. As reviewed in [3],
there are two main schemes for operating an electrostatic
micro-generator: switched systems and continuous systems.
In this paper we focus on continuous systems since the use of
controlled switches required for switch-type operated systems
complicates the implementation of the generator and the
circuitry. In a continuous system, the variable capacitor is
continuously connected to the circuitry, which includes the
load and the polarization voltage for biasing the variable
capacitor. A change in capacitance will always result in a
charge transfer through the load resistor, which causes power
to be dissipated. The amount of energy that can be extracted is
heavily dependent on the balance between the strength of the
electrical damping force (specified by the transducer design)
and the excitation force (given by the operating conditions).
Therefore, an optimal value of the electrostatic force must be
designed with respect to the excitation conditions in order to
achieve a maximum of power generation.
In [4], we presented results from a theoretical design study
of electrode configurations (e.g. in-plane area overlap, in-plane
gap closing, etc) for electrostatic micro-generators with an
external bias voltage source. In a static analysis (no feedback
considered), the capacitance as a function of displacement,
the total capacitance change and the electrostatic force were
calculated analytically for different electrode geometries. We
found, that a modified electrode geometry (trapezoidal shape),
which combines sensitivity of both gap and area, provides the
greatest change in capacitance. However, dynamic stability
becomes an issue due to the pull-in effect, and hence the bias
voltage must be restricted significantly. Based on these results,
we considered an in-plane area-overlap micro-generator with
straight finger electrodes for a first design implementation.
The idea of electrostatic energy conversion goes back
to 1976 when O P Breaux filed a patent about a rotary
non-resonant conversion system [5]. About 13 years ago,
Williams et al first published a concept about resonant
electrostatic micro-generators [6]. Since then only a
few groups have published experimental data on resonant
electrostatic generator prototypes in contrast to piezoelectric
and electromagnetic transducer types [7–13]. Most of the
devices presented are open systems which are not hermetically
encapsulated and therefore vulnerable to environmental
influences. Moreover, in most of the cases, they are either
large in size (5 cm3 ) or require very high bias voltages
(800 V) in order to generate sufficient power in the range
2
D Hoffmann et al
C2(x)
C1(x)
Seismic
Mass
R1 R2
C
Figure 1. Schematic view of an electrostatic micro-generator model.
of μW [9, 12]. In the present work, we present a completely
packaged prototype device of an electrostatic micro-generator
with a package volume of about 0.2 cm3 . By integration on
a PCB test board, we investigated the device behaviour with
respect to the excitation level and the bias voltage as well as
the frequency response.
We have also developed a numerical signal-flow model in
Matlab/Simulink to gain a more profound understanding of the
device behaviour. This model considers the nonlinear regime,
where electrostatic forces couple back from the electrical
domain to the mechanical domain. In addition, the effect of
mechanical stoppers limiting the displacement of the proof
mass is also taken into account. The simulation results
predicting the device behaviour are in good agreement with
experimental measurements.
2. Design and analysis
2.1. Principle of operation
The design of the electrostatic transducer structure is based
on a mechanical resonator and two symmetrical variable
capacitors as shown in figure 1. The two variable capacitors
are connected to the proof mass in such a way that their
capacity changes in a complementary manner. This working
principle offers some advantages in contrast to a single variable
capacitor, and was proposed by Sterken et al [14]. One of the
advantages is that the transduction is quite insensitive to stray
capacitances.
The variable capacitors are electrically connected by two
load resistors. The voltage source, which is required to bias
the device, is realized by a charged capacitor (figure 1). When
motion of the proof mass occurs, charge transport between the
two variable capacitors is imposed, inducing a current through
the load resistors. If the load resistors are infinitely high, the
generator operates in constant charge mode. In contrast, a
constant voltage mode predominates if the generator is short
circuited (R1 = R2 = 0). In both of these cases, no work can be
done since either the generated current or the generated voltage
is zero. As a consequence, a continuous system can neither
be purely charge constraint nor purely voltage constraint. For
an optimized load, the generator operates in between those
J. Micromech. Microeng. 19 (2009) 094001 D Hoffmann et al

Table 1. Design parameters of the electrostatic transducer structure.

Parameter Symbol Value Proof Mass With
Movable Comb
Electrodes
Mechanical parameters
Mass of proof mass m 642 μg
Total spring stiffness k 72.6 N m−1
Displacement limit xmax 20 μm
Mechanical
Suspension beam width WB 4 μm Fixed Comb Suspension Units
Suspension beam length LB 310 μm Electrode Units
Number of folded beams Nf 8
Capacitor parameters
Number of capacitor finger pairs NF 936
Initial overlap L0 20 μm
Gap between fingers gF 2.5 μm
Finger length LF 30 μm
Finger height (device layer thickness) HF 50 μm
Total change of capacitance C 13.3 pF Figure 2. Schematic view of the transducer layout. Bright dotted
areas represent comb electrode units and cross-hatched areas
represent mechanical suspension units.
two modes. This type of generator is referred to as a velocity
damped generator because the damping force is approximately suspension unit (figure 2) is designed with two folded beams;
proportional to the relative velocity between the proof mass thus, the total spring constant k of the resonator is 72.6 kg
and the device package [3]. s−2 (analytically calculated). With a total effective mass m of
642 μg, the resonance frequency yields 1692 Hz. The effective
mass includes the proof mass as well as the mass of the beams
2.2. Design of the transducer structure and the trusses.
There are a number of design parameters as well as application-
specific design constraints to be considered, when designing 2.3. Signal-flow model
customized electrostatic micro-generators. Our first goal In order to understand and predict the dynamic behaviour of the
was to be compatible with microelectronic packaging and electrostatic micro-generator, we have developed a signal-flow
assembling tools; therefore, we chose a standard ceramic model in Matlab Simulink. The model is based on two energy
leadless chip carrier (CLCC) as a device package. This domains, a mechanical domain and an electrical domain,
package is commonly used for packaging inertial sensor units which are electromechanically coupled by an electrostatic
[15]. This particular choice restricts the chip size and thus the field.
design space to a specific area due to the defined cavity size of According to figure 1, a set of two nonlinear differential
the CLCC package. There may be other design constraints to equations can be established by means of Kirchhoff’s second
be considered when developing customized micro-generator law applied to the meshes of the circuit. Thus, the state of the
devices depending on the specific application. Our second charge qi on the two variable capacitors can be written as
goal was to keep the chip size as small as possible in order to
dq1 q1 q1 + q2
keep the cost moderate. The more chips that can be placed on R1 + + − VBV = 0
a wafer layout, the lower the cost per chip. Due to the above dt C1 (x) CBV
(1)
considerations, a chip size of 5 mm by 6 mm with a design area dq2 q2 q1 + q2
(including proof mass, capacitors and suspensions) of 2.3 mm R2 + + − VBV = 0,
dt C2 (x) CBV
× 4 mm was chosen. where Ri is the load resistance, qi is the charge on the variable
One of the requirements for maximum power extraction is capacitors, CBV and VBV are the capacitance and the voltage of
maximizing the capacitance change per unit displacement [16]. the bias voltage source, respectively, and Ci is the capacitance
Therefore, we designed the proof mass as a fishbone structure of the two variable capacitors.
to allow accommodation of a large number of electrodes The capacitances Ci of the variable capacitors with an
(figure 2). A summary of relevant parameters is given in area-overlap characteristic are given by
table 1. The capacitive electrodes comprise interdigitated xmax + x
comb structures with a constant gap varying area-overlap C1 (x) = 2 · NF · ε · HF ·
gF
characteristic. Fixed and movable comb fingers are designed (2)
with a gap g0 of 2.5 μm and an initial overlap L0 of xmax − x
C2 (x) = 2 · NF · ε · HF · ,
20 μm. Our current fabrication technology provides an active gF
device layer of 50 μm thickness to be used. Therefore, a where NF is the number of fingers of the comb electrodes, ε is
maximum variation of capacitance C of 13.3 pF (analytically the permittivity of the medium between the fixed and movable
calculated) for each capacitor is achieved utilizing 936 finger electrodes, HF is the height of the finger equal to the thickness
pairs. The displacement amplitude xmax of the proof mass is of the device layer, gF is the gap between the fingers and
limited to 20 μm by mechanical stoppers. The suspension xmax is the initial overlap of the fingers which is equal to the
beams have a width of 4 μm and a length of 310 μm. Each maximum displacement amplitude.

3
J. Micromech. Microeng. 19 (2009) 094001 D Hoffmann et al

The electrostatic forces that provide the feedback in the was calculated from frequency response measurements of the
electromechanical system are calculated as follows: fabricated prototype in accordance with equation (7):
1 dC1 (x) fR
FES1 = ·V2 · Q= , (7)
2 C1 dx f
(3)
1 dC2 (x) where fR is the resonance frequency and f is the bandwidth
FES2 = · VC2 2
· ,
2 dx of the frequency response curve. Finally, the motion of the
where VCi is the voltage over the variable capacitors. It proof mass is described by Newton’s second law:
is evident from equation (3) that the electrostatic force is mẍ = −bẋ − kx − FS + FES1 + FES2 − ma, (8)
proportional to the bias voltage squared and to the rate of
where k is the spring stiffness and ma is the excitation force
change of the capacitance. As previously described, the
due to the acceleration of the device. The motion of the
present electromechanical transducer system is a continuous
proof mass as described by equation (8) is inherently nonlinear
system, where the voltage over the variable capacitors is not
since electrostatic forces (equation (3)) depend on the voltage
constrained and thus does change with time. Consequently,
squared (equation (4)) which varies over time. Also, the
electrostatic forces are not constant over time unlike the case
discontinuity of the stopper force (equation (5)) contributes
for constant voltage area-overlapping capacitors. The voltage
to the nonlinear behaviour of equation (8).
for each capacitor is described as
A schematic view of the signal-flow diagram of the
q1 electrostatic micro-generator model is shown in figure 3. The
VC1 =
C1 (x) mechanical domain, having one degree of freedom, is supplied
(4) with an acceleration signal a which can be harmonic or
q2
VC2 = , random. The displacement x of the proof mass is then used to
C2 (x)
calculate the instantaneous capacitances Ci of the two variable
where qi is the charge on the variable capacitors Ci . Both the capacitors. In the electrical domain, having two degrees of
charge stored in the variable capacitors and the capacitance freedom, the charge qi on the variable capacitors is determined
value change with time. on the basis of the instantaneous capacitance values Ci by
We also included elastic stoppers in our model, because solving equation (1). The voltages VCi over the variable
they have a significant impact on the dynamic behaviour and capacitors can now be calculated using equation (4). The
the performance of the device. Since mechanical stoppers are instantaneous voltage VRi over the load resistor follows from
necessary to be implemented in a real device, they must also Kirchhoff’s voltage law (all variables are time dependent):
be considered in the model. The elastic stoppers are modelled
VRi = VBV − VCi − VCBV , (9)
as described by Tvedt [17], where the stoppers are represented
by springs that come into effect when the displacement of the where VCBV is the voltage over the bias capacitor. The
proof mass is larger than the predefined displacement limit generated peak and rms power is calculated using the following
xmax : equation:
⎧ 2
⎨ 0, −xmax  x  xmax Vpeak, rms
Ppeak, rms = . (10)
FS = ks (x + xmax ), x < −xmax . (5) Ri
⎩
ks (x − xmax ), x > xmax By using the space derivatives of Ci together with the voltages
In this expression, ks is the spring stiffness of the stoppers and VCi , the electrostatic forces are determined which couple back
should be chosen much larger than k to account for the rigid into the mechanical domain. The total simulation time was
characteristic of the stoppers. In equation (5), it is assumed chosen in such a manner that the system was well in the
that there is no damping involved when the stoppers come steady state region when the simulation finished. The output
into effect; hence, the stoppers act purely elastic. This ideal parameters of the system model are voltage, current and power
behaviour of the stoppers is justified in this case since the effect with respect to the load resistor.
of the stoppers themselves (limitation of the displacement Three types of investigations were carried out: the
amplitude) on the device behaviour is the main focus of this influence of the bias voltage, the effect of the stoppers and
investigation. the dynamic frequency response. In the first type, the bias
Mechanical damping, e.g. due to internal friction within voltage VBV was varied between 0 V and 60 V in steps of 1 V.
the material (suspension beams) and viscous gas flow in The influence of this bias voltage was investigated for five
the cavity, must be considered when modelling resonant different excitation levels. In the second type (effect of the
electromechanical systems. The mechanical damping stoppers), the excitation level a was varied between 0 g and
coefficient b can be described as a function of the quality 25 g in steps of 1 g. This was done for five different bias
factor Q of the resonator: voltages. The dynamic frequency response was investigated
by performing individual frequency sweeps from 1000 to
1
b= · ω0 · m, (6) 2000 Hz and vice versa. The model parameters used in
Q this simulation are based on both the design parameters of
where ω0 is the mechanical eigen angular frequency and m is the transducer structure (as provided in table 1) as well as
the mass of the proof mass. The Q factor used in the simulation the component parameters given by the circuitry (e.g. bias

4
J. Micromech. Microeng. 19 (2009) 094001
Mechanical Domain
Excitation
a x(t)
x
-x
Feedback
Figure 3. Schematic view of the signal flow model including the mechanical domain, the electrical domain and the transducer domain.
Table 2. Model parameters.
Parameter Symbol Value
Spring stiffness of stoppers ks 4000 N m−1
Spring stiffness of suspension k 54 N m−1
Damping coefficient b 5 × 10−5
Bias capacitance CBV 1 μF
Displacement limit of zmax 21 μm
variable capacitors
Load resistor R1 = R 2 = R 560 k
capacitor, load resistor). The corresponding values of the
component parameters are given in table 2. The spring stiffness
of the suspension was re-calculated from frequency response
measurements of the prototype device in order to match the
resonance frequency of the model to that of the device (table 2).
Other parameters include the mechanical damping coefficient
(calculated by equations (6) and (7)) and the stiffness of
the mechanical stoppers. Results on the simulation will be
presented together with experimental data in section 4.
3. Fabrication and experimental approach
3.1. Fabrication process flow
The device is manufactured in silicon utilizing a process flow,
which is adapted from a manufacturing process previously
used at our institute to fabricate gyroscope sensors. This
process uses a single active layer of 50 μm thickness. First, a
substrate wafer is dry-etched to create a cavity of 50 μm depth
for free movement of the proof mass (figure 4(b)). Then a
2000 nm thermal oxide layer is produced to provide isolation
between the substrate and the device layer. Subsequently,
a highly p-doped device wafer is bonded onto the substrate
wafer and thinned to the required thickness by chemical
mechanical polishing (figure 4(c)). In order to realize a
capacitive structure, fixed and movable electrodes require
electrical isolation from each other. This was achieved using
a trench refill technology as described in [18] and is shown
in figure 4(d). The trench refill technology also allows the
fabrication of track crossings, which are necessary in this
generator design. Conductor tracks for contacting the fixed
and movable electrodes are formed by wet etching of a 500 nm
D Hoffmann et al
Transducer Domain Electrical Domain
C1(t) C2(t)
Calculation C1(t) VC1(t) VC2(t)
C2(t)
Capacitance
Values R1 C R2
VR(t)
Ci(x) IR(t)
PR(t)
dC1(x)/dx dC2(x)/dx
Calculation VC1(t)
VC2(t)
Electrostatic
Forces
Fi(t)
thick aluminium layer (figure 4(e)). Prior to the deposition of
the aluminium layer, a thermal oxide of 200 nm thickness is
generated and structured to prevent short circuits between the
metal tracks. As a last step, the device layer is dry-etched
to create the proof mass, suspensions and comb electrodes
(figure 4(f )). For encapsulation of the device wafer, a cap
wafer is wet-etched to form cavities at the front side (for
access to the bond pads) and the backside (to allow free
movement of the proof mass) of the wafer (figure 4(h)). The
device wafer and the cap wafer are then bonded together using
a glass frit bonding technology. This generates a hermetic
seal, which protects the micro-structures from environmental
influences and allows operating the generator in a defined
vacuum (figure 4(i)). Finally, the wafer is diced to separate
the micro-generator chips, which are then ready for packaging.
3.2. Prototype device
The encapsulated micro-generator chips are packaged into
ceramic chip carriers using a conductive epoxy adhesive
(figure 5). This allows connecting the substrate to the ground
in order to avoid any unwanted charging of the substrate. The
chip includes five bond pads for connecting the generator to
the circuitry. Conventional wire-bonding technology is used
to connect the bond pads to the CLCC package. For protection
of the wire bonds and the generator chip, a ceramic lid may be
attached to the package. At this stage, the micro-generators
are ready for integration on the PCB level together with the
electronic circuitry.
3.3. Experimental approach
The packaged devices were integrated onto a PCB test board
for characterization (figure 6). The circuitry realized on the
test board complies with figure 2. Therefore, the test board
contains two load resistors R1 and R2 (560 k each) and a pair
of multilayer ceramic capacitors with a total capacity of 1 μF
for biasing the device.
First, the frequency response was measured with a
customized circuit board in order to determine the resonance
peak fR and the quality factor Q of the micromechanical
resonator. This measurement method does not require a
shaker or other instruments. The circuit board provides two
5
J. Micromech. Microeng. 19 (2009) 094001
(a) Substrate wafer
(f ) Creation of proof mass, electrodes and suspension
(b) Creation of a cavity
(c) Bonding of a silicon device wafer and thinning
(h) Creation of cavities at top and bottom
(d ) Trenc h refill technology
(e) Creation of metal tracks
Figure 4. Fabrication process flow.
Figure 5. Micro-generator chips packaged in CLCC packages.
complementary (positive and negative) drive signals which are
applied to the fixed electrodes of the two variable capacitors,
respectively. The drive signal also contains an overlaid carrier
signal. The response of the device is then measured using
the signal taken from the movable electrodes together with the
carrier signal.
Second, the micro-generator test board was physically
attached to a shaker (Tira GmbH) for experimental
characterization. The excitation profile was harmonic
with varying amplitudes and frequencies. Prior to each
measurement, the bias capacitors were charged to the required
bias voltage. The induced peak voltage Vpeak across the
6
D Hoffmann et al
(g) Cap wafer
(i ) Bonding of cap and device wafer
Figure 6. Prototype integrated on a PCB test board for
characterization.
load resistor R1 was measured with a 10 M voltage probe
connected to an oscilloscope. The peak power Ppeak was
calculated according to equation (10).
The experimental characterization included four types of
investigations (according to the simulation procedure): the
influence of the bias voltage, the effect of the stoppers, the
dynamic frequency response and a long-term measurement. To
investigate the effect of both the bias voltage and the stoppers,
the voltage VBV was varied between 10 V and 50 V in steps
of 10 V, and the excitation a was varied between 1 g and 22 g.
The micro-generator was excited at its resonance frequency.
The dynamic frequency response was investigated by
performing individual frequency sweeps from 1400 to 2000 Hz
and vice versa at a fixed excitation level but different bias
voltages. The long-term test was carried out in order to
investigate the robustness of the device. The micro-generator
was therefore continuously excited at resonance for 2 h. We
J. Micromech. Microeng. 19 (2009) 094001
Isolation Mechanical
Trench Guidance Proof Mass
Metal tracks
Interdigidated Comb Electrodes
Figure 7. Microscopic close-up view of the electrostatic transducer
structure. The inset in the right upper corner shows a more detailed
view of the interdigitated comb electrode.
chose an excitation level high enough (a = 6.5 g, VBV = 30 V)
so that the stoppers could come into effect. As a consequence,
2920 impacts per second occurred between the proof mass and
the mechanical stoppers.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Prototype fabrication
In figure 7, a microscopic close-up view of the fabricated
micro-generator is shown including one of the four mechanical
suspension units and a comb electrode unit. As can be seen
from figure 2, there are ten comb electrode units at the long
sides of the chip. Each unit comprises two comb electrodes
that change its capacitance in an opposite manner. The
corresponding comb electrodes are interconnected on the chip
via conductor paths to form two variable capacitors. The tracks
crossing the isolation trenches for contacting the movable
comb electrodes attached to the proof mass and the fixed comb
electrodes are also visible. The inset in figure 7 provides
a more detailed view of the interdigitated finger electrodes.
On the basis of linear measurements, we observed a trench-
widening effect that occurred due to technology imperfections.
This effect produced a gap sizing between 200 nm and 400 nm,
which means that the gap between the fingers is larger than
designed. In the analysed structure (figure 7), the gap was
measured to be 2.9 μm on average resulting in a gap sizing
of 400 nm. Consequently, the total change of capacitance
was reduced. Moreover, the trench-widening effect leads
to a beam sizing of the suspension beams between 300 nm
and 500 nm, i.e. the beam width is smaller than the design
value. As a result, the resonance frequency of the device shifts
towards lower frequencies. For instance, a beam sizing of
400 nm will cause a frequency shift of 240 Hz. In order to
develop electrostatic micro-generators with the best possible
transduction performance, the natural frequency of the device
has to match the specific vibration frequency of the respective
application. This can be achieved primarily by reducing the
7
D Hoffmann et al
160000
Chip 4448
140000
Chip 4749
Chip 4850 Q 100
120000
Amplitude (arbitrary)
Chip 5246
Q 133
Chip 5146
100000
Design
80000
Q 76
60000
40000 Q 52
20000
0
1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700
Frequency (Hz)
Figure 8. Frequency response of five micro-generator devices.
trench-widening effect but also by considering this effect in
the design phase. However, there are MEMS foundries that
already provide process technologies with very little trench
widening.
We would like to point out that the yield of working
devices was rather low. Two major issues were identified.
One is related to the dc resistance between the bond pads of
the micro-generator chip. The dc resistance was measured
between the fixed and movable electrodes, the fixed electrodes
and the substrate as well as between the movable electrodes
and the substrate using a wafer prober and a dedicated
measurement unit. We observed that the dc resistance dropped
well below 100 M for a large number of chips after the cap
wafer was bonded onto the device wafer. The other issue
is related to the bond between cap wafer and device wafer.
We found that the tightness of the bond was not uniform
across the wafer so water and sawdust were able to intrude
into some of the chips destroying the transducer structure
and its functionality. Micro-generator chips that showed
acceptable dc resistance values (1 G) after dicing were
further characterized.
4.2. Natural mechanical frequency
The resonance frequency was measured for five devices and
was between 1330 Hz and 1480 Hz, which is well below
the designed value (figure 8). This frequency shift towards
lower values is caused primarily by the beam sizing which also
varies across the wafer. In order to increase the device yield
for application-specific operation conditions, the beam sizing
must be reduced by further improvement of the fabrication
process. From figure 8, it can be seen that the amplitude of
the response curves varies significantly. Consequently, the
quality factor Q (calculated by equation (7)) of the mechanical
resonators varies from device to device. We assume that the
bond is not uniformly tight and therefore different air pressures
exist inside the chip cavities. This will cause different damping
conditions (e.g. viscous damping) and will thus affect the
quality factor. One particular device having a quality factor
of Q = 100 was further characterized since its resonance
frequency (1460 Hz) was closest to the design frequency. The
following experimental data originate from this device only.
J. Micromech. Microeng. 19 (2009) 094001 D Hoffmann et al

Table 3. Comparison of experimental measurements and simulation results (maximum values at resonance frequency).
gF VBV Vpeak Dev. Vrms Dev. Ppeak Dev. Prms Dev.
(μm) (V) (V) (%) (V) (%) (μW) (%) (μW) (%)

Experiment 2.7–2.9 30 0.84 – 0.6 – 1.3 – 0.6 –

50 1.37 – 1 – 3.4 – 1.75 –
Simulation 1—design according to table 1 2.5 30 0.98 14.3 0.7 14.3 2 35 0.9 33.3
50 1.6 14.4 1.2 16.7 5.47 37.8 2.56 31.6
Simulation 2—larger gap gF 2.7 30 0.9 6.7 0.65 7.7 1.7 23.5 0.8 25
50 1.5 8.7 1.1 9.1 4.67 27.2 2.2 20.5

The spring stiffness k used in the simulation was adjusted to
54 N m−1 in order to match the resonance frequency of the
prototype device being characterized.
4.3. Maximum voltage and power levels
In a first study we investigated the maximum voltage and power
levels of the prototype generator as a function of bias voltage.
The measurements were compared to the simulation results to
evaluate the accuracy of the numerical model (table 3).
In fact, the output power will always increase with
increasing bias voltage if the excitation level is raised
accordingly. However, the maximum possible bias voltage that
may be used in the experiments is restricted to the maximum
allowable voltage of the ceramic capacitors. In order to avoid
any structural damage of the device, we did not use voltages
beyond 50 V. The maximum output power (applying a bias
voltage of 50 V) was achieved for an excitation level of
approximately 13 g. Harmonic excitation at the resonance
frequency generated a voltage of 1 Vrms over the load resistor.
Since the induced current of 1.8 μArms was driven through two
load resistors R1 and R2 , a total maximum power of 3.5 μWrms
was generated.
In table 3 the results of the experimental measurements
and the numerical simulations are summarized for bias
voltages of 30 and 50 V. The data are shown for one load
resistor and include the voltage (peak and rms measured) and
power (peak and rms calculated by equation (10)). Table 3 also
contains the deviation of the measured data from the predicted
values of the numerical model. Comparing the voltages (peak
and rms) of the simulation (simulation 1) and the experiment,
results differ by 14.3–16.7%. The deviation is much larger
when comparing the power levels, where the results differ by
31.6–37.8%. In this respect, however, it must be noted that
the power is calculated using the voltage according to equation
(10), which means that the power is proportional to the voltage
squared. It can be shown that the deviation of the calculated
power is approximately twice the deviation of the voltage.
Therefore, the accuracy of the numerical model appears to be
insufficiently low when comparing power levels.
Since the voltage is the measured variable, we suggest
evaluating the numerical model on the basis of the voltage.
Yet, a deviation as large as 17% is still comparatively high.
The main reason for this discrepancy is the uncertainty of
the parameter gF , the gap between movable and fixed finger
elements. As stated in section 4.1, the gap is affected by
the trench-widening effect, which results in a gap sizing of
200–400 nm. This induces a reduction in the total change of
capacitance and hence a decrease in the generated voltage and
power levels. Table 3 also contains the simulation data for a
transducer structure with a gap of 2.7 μm. Now the deviation
between the simulation and experiment is only 6.7–9.1% when
comparing voltages and 20.5–27.2% when comparing power
levels.
Another reason for the inaccurate predictions from the
simulation is the fact that there are no losses considered in the
model, which apparently exist in the real device. There are,
for instance, losses due to leakage currents through parasitic
resistors parallel to the variable capacitors. Furthermore, there
is a deterministic measurement error due to the fact that the
input resistance of the measuring instrument is not infinite
(10 M).
4.4. Effect of mechanical stoppers
In figure 9, the effect of the mechanical stoppers on the
generated power is shown. In general, both simulation and
experimental data suggest that the generated power increases
with the square of the acceleration a at low excitation levels.
Depending on the bias voltage, the generated power starts to
level off at a critical excitation level. This is due to the fact that
the proof mass starts to impact at the mechanical stoppers, and
therefore oscillates at its maximum possible displacement. A
further increase in excitation does not cause a further increase
in displacement or capacitance change, respectively. Instead,
the stoppers cause the power to decline continuously at a very
low rate. From figure 9, it becomes evident that the maximum
amount of energy that can be generated is strongly dependent
on the strength of the electrical damping force, which again
is dependent on the bias voltage (equation (3)). Therefore,
the amount of mechanical energy that is required to operate
the device at its maximum inner displacement amplitude must
increase with higher bias voltages. Consequently, the bias
voltage must be recognized as a significant design parameter,
when designing customized micro-generators with a given
output impedance.
According to figure 9, there is a good qualitative
conformance between simulation results and experimental
data. The device behaviour, in particular the effect of the
stoppers, is well described by the numerical model. The
occurrence of a plateau above a critical excitation level is
well predicted. The level of the plateau increases with the
bias voltage in a nonlinear manner. This can be seen in
both simulation and experiment. The mismatch between
the simulation and experimental results with respect to the
absolute values has been discussed in the previous section.

8
J. Micromech. Microeng. 19 (2009) 094001 D Hoffmann et al

6 4
50V 50 V
3.5 40 V
5 40V
30V 30 V

R1 Peak Power (μW)

R1 Peak Power (μW)

3
20V 20 V
4
10V 2.5 10 V

3 2

1.5
2
1
1
0.5

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25
Excitation (g) Excitation (g)
(a) (b)
Figure 9. Effect of mechanical stoppers: (a) simulation, (b) measurement.

6 3.5

12.87g 12.87g
3
5 8.586g 8.58g
R1 Peak Power (μW)
R1 Peak Power (μW)

4.29g 2.5 4.29g

4
2.12g
2.14g
2
3
1.5
2
1

1 0.5

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Bias Voltage (V) Bias Voltage (V)
(a) (b)
Figure 10. Effect of bias voltage: (a) simulation, (b) measurement.

4.5. Influence of the bias voltage
The influence of the bias voltage is shown in figure 10. From
both simulation results and experimental data, an optimal bias
voltage can be found for a specific excitation level at which the
generated power is at its maximum. The power increases in
a nonlinear manner until the optimal point is reached. At this
point of maximum power, the proof mass oscillates with the
maximum possible displacement, without the occurrence of
an impact at the mechanical stoppers. Below the optimal bias
voltage, the generator operates in impact mode, i.e. the motion
of the proof mass is impeded by the mechanical stoppers and
thus impacts occur. For bias voltages higher than the optimal
value, the displacement amplitude of the proof mass starts to
decline since the influence of the electrostatic damping force
becomes increasingly stronger. Therefore, when designing
electrostatic micro-generators, the bias voltage (e.g. provided
by an electret) requires to be designed with respect to the
application. The optimal bias voltage will also depend on
the value of the load resistor. However, in practice, the
load is usually represented by a rather complex circuit and
its impedance cannot be changed easily once the circuit is
manufactured. Therefore, it is more useful to adjust the
polarization voltage for different application scenarios while
using the same harvester circuit. This means that the circuit
can be fabricated in large numbers at low cost. The bias voltage
can be adjusted by the charging conditions of the capacitor or
the electret.
Again, according to figure 10, there is good conformance
between simulation and experiment. The model is able to
predict the device behaviour including the presence of an
optimum bias voltage. As in the previous case, the measured
peak power is lower than the one predicted by the model. Also,
the values for the optimal bias voltages are slightly higher than
predicted. We assume the same reasons as described above
for this discrepancy.
4.6. Long-term excitation
We also performed a long-term experiment, in which the
generator was continuously excited at its resonance frequency
(1460 Hz) over a period of 2 h. We chose an excitation level
of 6.5 g above the critical value in order to induce impacts of
the proof mass at the mechanical stoppers. The bias capacitor
was initially charged to 30 V. The generated peak voltage was
measured every 15 min. In figure 11, the rms power is shown
over time for the load resistor R1 . After 2 h, the generated
rms power dropped by 50% from 1.26 to 0.6 μW. During this

9
J. Micromech. Microeng. 19 (2009) 094001 D Hoffmann et al

pre-charged at different voltages to vary the bias of the

1.4
device. Figure 12(b) shows measurement data (peak voltage
1.2 generated over load) for a bias voltage of 50 V. At the
resonance frequency (1460 Hz), a peak voltage of 1.45 V was
RMS Power (μW)

1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (min)
Figure 11. Long-term excitation: rms power over a time span of
120 min.
time span, the voltage VBV of the bias capacitor pair declined
to 21 V. This voltage loss corresponds to an energy loss of
460 μJ according to the energy function of a capacitor.
The total energy generated by the micro-generator was twice
5920 μJ. As a result, a total net energy of 11.38 mJ was
generated. This is equivalent to an average power of 1.58 μW
over a period of 2 h. The energy loss of the bias capacitors
is due to leakage currents between the variable capacitors
and between the proof mass and the substrate wafer. In
conclusion, this experiment demonstrates effective conversion
of mechanical to electrical energy by means of the electrostatic
transduction mechanism. The use of a pre-charged capacitor
as a bias voltage source is not practical for developing energy
autonomous systems due to immanent losses (e.g. leakage
currents because of finite resistances of capacitors) in the
system. The use of permanent electrical charges buried in
a dielectric layer (i.e. an electret) is essential for reliable
operation of the electrostatic micro-generator.
4.7. Dynamic frequency response
In order to investigate the dynamic behaviour of the micro-
generator, a frequency sweep was carried out with a fixed
excitation amplitude y of 1.5 μm. The bias capacitor was
generated. When performing a frequency sweep upward, the
micro-generator followed the excitation frequency continually,
i.e. the amplitude of the voltage generated at the resonance
frequency increased slightly at a constant rate. This behaviour
is also predicted by our model according to figure 12(a), and
was also observed for lower bias voltages (20 V and 30 V).
Using a fixed excitation amplitude y, the acceleration level
120 140
a increases with increasing frequency in accordance with
a = ω2 y. Consequently, if the amplitude of the proof mass
reaches the displacement limit at the resonance frequency, the
micro-generator starts to operate in impact mode with further
increasing frequency, i.e. persistent collisions occur between
the proof mass and the mechanical stoppers. Assuming a
pure elastic characteristic of the mechanical stoppers, the
dynamic behaviour of the generator is comparable with that of
a piecewise-linear oscillator [19]. Piecewise-linear oscillators
exhibit a broader bandwidth characteristic for up-sweep
excitations. This increase in the bandwidth may enhance
the performance of the micro-generators since application-
specific vibration profiles are usually random and broadband.
From experimental data (figure 12(b), down-sweep), it is also
evident that the micro-generator shows nonlinear Duffing-like
behaviour (softening). This however was not clearly predicted
by the numerical model (figure 12(a)).
5. Conclusions
We successfully fabricated electrostatic micro-generators with
a chip size of 5 mm by 6 mm in silicon using standard MEMS
fabrication processes. The micro-generator devices showed
resonance frequencies between 1300 Hz and 1500 Hz. A
maximum voltage of 1 Vrms and a current of 1.8 μArms were
generated using a bias voltage of 50 V (harmonic excitation
at resonance, 13 g). With respect to the load (2× 560 k), a
corresponding total output power of 3.5 μWrms was generated.
The experimental data show that there is an optimal bias

2.5 1.8
50V 16g up-sweep
1.6
50V 14g up-sweep
2 50V 16g down-sweep 1.4 Frequency sweep up - 50V
R1 Peak Voltage (V)
R1 Peak Voltage (V)

Frequency sweep down - 50V

30V 7g up-sweep
1.2 Resonance frequency
30V 6g up-sweep Frequency sweep up - 30V
1.5
30V 7g down-sweep
1.0 Frequency sweep down - 30V

0.8
1
0.6

0.5 0.4

0.2

0 0.0
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

(a) (b)

Figure 12. Dynamic frequency response: (a) simulation, (b) experiment.

10
J. Micromech. Microeng. 19 (2009) 094001
voltage where the output power is maximal. Consequently,
the bias voltage has to be considered as a significant design
parameter with respect to the excitation conditions of the
corresponding application. At larger excitations above a
critical level, the mechanical stoppers come into effect causing
the output power to flatten and weakly decrease. In a long-
term experiment, we demonstrated effective conversion of
mechanical to electrical energy. There was no evidence of
degradation despite operating the device in impact mode. We
also found that the bandwidth during a frequency up-sweep
can be significantly increased when the generator is operated
in impact mode.
In order to investigate the dynamic system behaviour of
our electrostatic micro-generators, a numerical model was
developed. This nonlinear model considers electrostatic
coupling between the mechanical and electrical domains
as well as the effect of the mechanical stoppers at the
displacement extremes. The predicted device behaviour
provided by the simulation results is in good agreement with
the experimental data. We will further enhance our numerical
model to account for losses that exist in a real device. With a
special focus on device optimization, parameter studies will be
carried out with respect to relevant design parameters. We will
also investigate the effect of non-harmonic excitation profiles
(random and wideband) on the power generation capabilities
of our micro-generators. For further device development, it is
planned to investigate strategies for implementing a permanent
bias voltage source (e.g. an electret).
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge the funding of the
ZOFF III project ‘Energieeffiziente Autonome Mikrosysteme’
by the government of Baden-Württemberg.
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