Device for ambient thermal and vibration energy harvesting

An integrated circuit on a chip, the circuit comprising:

• at least one capacitor connected to the circuit to generate an AC noise signal;
• a selected bandwidth of the AC noise signal transmitting through the capacitor as a first AC power signal;
• respective rectifiers receiving a positive cycle of the first AC power signal and a negative cycle of the first AC power signal;
• output terminals connected to the respective rectifiers and configured for connection to an off chip circuit.

An integrated circuit, comprising:

• at least one capacitor generating an AC noise signal;
• a selected bandwidth of the AC noise signal transmitting through the capacitor as a first AC power signal;
• respectively forward biased and reversed biased transistors rectifying corresponding positive and negative cycles of the AC noise signal;
• output terminals connected to the transistors and configured for connection to an off chip circuit for energy harvesting from output signals.

A method of assembling an energy harvesting circuit, comprising:

• connecting at least one capacitor within the energy harvesting circuit;
• forming a capacitive region in the energy harvesting circuit by defining the at least one capacitor with a first capacitor plate having an initial separation distance with respect to a first surface of a free-standing membrane, wherein the first surface of the free-standing membrane defines a second capacitor plate;
• exposing the free standing membrane to ambient thermal energy to induce charge accumulation in the capacitive region, the ambient thermal energy also inducing a thermal AC noise signal;
• selecting the capacitance of the capacitor to select a bandwidth of the AC noise signal transmitting through the capacitor as a first AC power signal;
• and
• rectifying the first AC power signal to charge a positive cycle storage capacitor and a negative cycle storage capacitor with the first AC power signal.