Design of a Photo Energy Harvesting Circuit Using On-chip Diodes

In this paper an on-chip photo energy harvesting system with MPPT(Maximum Power Point Tracking) control is proposed. The ISC(Integrated Solar Cell) is implemented using p-diff/n-well diodes available in CMOS processes. MPPT control is implemented using the linear relationship between the open-circuit voltage of a PV(Photovoltaic) cell and its MPP(Maximum Power Point) voltage such that a small pilot PV cell can track the MPP of a main PV cell in real time. Simulation results show that the designed circuit with the MPPT control delivers the MPP voltage to load even though the load is heavy such that the load circuit can operate properly. The proposed circuit is designed in 0.18um CMOS process. The designed main PV cell and pilot PV cell occupy and respectively.