Electrostatic microresonant power conversion

Abstract

The present invention, generally speaking, provides an inductor-free power converter based on mechanical resonance using a single MEM device. Mechanical resonance and silicon strain energy are used as building blocks for a power converter, such as a boost converter. In such a “micromechanical boost converter,” arbitrary step-up voltages can be developed using only a single micromechanical component. A dramatic improvement in power density is obtained as compared to conventional capacitor and inductor technologies. For typical MEM applications, such a converter, operating without discrete parts, can readily be fabricated together with the MEM device it powers. For non-MEM applications (e.g., the on-chip generation of high voltages, as for EEPROM programming, for example), the improvement in power density offers significant benefits, particularly for portable equipment.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.