ARTICLE IN PRESS

Microelectronics Journal 38 (2007) 1175–1180

www.elsevier.com/locate/mejo

Design, fabrication and performance of a new vibration-based

electromagnetic micro power generator
Pei-Hong Wanga,b, Xu-Han Daia,, Dong-Ming Fanga, Xiao-Lin Zhaoa
a
Key Laboratory for Thin Film and Microfabrication Technology, Ministry of Education, National Key Laboratory of Nano/Micro Fabrication Technology,
Research Institute of Micro/Nanometer Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China
b
School of Physics and Material Science, Anhui University, Hefei 230039, China
Received 16 June 2007; received in revised form 24 September 2007; accepted 2 October 2007
Available online 13 November 2007

Abstract

This paper presents a new vibration-based electromagnetic micro power generator fabricated using microelectromechanical systems
(MEMS) technology, which can convert ambient vibration energy into electric power. The microgenerator consists of a permanent
magnet of NdFeB, a copper planar spring and a two-layer copper coil. ANSYS modal analysis was used to predict the resonant
frequencies and resonant vibration modes of the spring-mass system. The detailed fabrication processes of the microgenerator are given.
Experimental results show that the prototype microgenerator can generate open-circuit voltage of 60 mV ac peak–peak with 121.25 Hz
input frequency and the acceleration of 1.5g (g ¼ 9.8 m/s2). The experimental and simulated results were compared and discussed.
r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Micro power generator; Vibration; Electromagnetic; MEMS technology; Copper planar spring

1. Introduction vibration-based electromagnetic power generators have

With the fast development of low-power wireless sensor
networks and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS),
how to supply power for them efficiently is becoming an
important engineering problem. Batteries have been widely
used to power these systems up to now. However, batteries
have many disadvantages: they have a short lifetime,
contain a finite amount of chemical energy, and tend to be
bulky compared to MEMS devices. Moreover, batteries
cannot supply energy for those micro sensors and actuators
which must be completely embedded in the structure
without physical connection to the outside environments.
Therefore, a renewable power supply must be found to
substitute batteries to power MEMS devices and wireless
sensors.
A good alternative to batteries is vibration-based
electromagnetic micro power generators [1,2]. They can
convert ambient vibration energy into electrical energy
according to Faraday’s law of induction. Works on
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 62933717; fax: +86 21 62823631.
E-mail address: xhdai@sjtu.edu.cn (X.-H. Dai).
been done by different research groups. Sheffield Uni-
versity group [3,4] firstly developed a vibration-based
electromagnetic power generator which can produce
0.3 mW on a planar pick-up coil at a resonant frequency
of 4.4 kHz. Li and co-workers presented a vibration-based
power generator with total volume of 1 cm3 that used
laser-micromachined springs as resonating structures [5].
Their microgenerator can generate 10 mW of power with
64 Hz input excitation frequency and 100 mm input vibra-
tion amplitude. A vibration-based ‘‘paddle’’ electromag-
netic power generator on silicon was designed and
fabricated by Southampton University [6,7]. The micro-
generator is fabricated using standard silicon microma-
chining technique and can generate a maximum power
output of 104 nW for 0.4g (g=9.8 m/s2) input acceleration
at 1.615 kHz. Other research groups have also made many
studies on vibration-based electromagnetic micro power
generators [8–10].
Although there are many studies on electromagnetic
microgenerator, testing values are often lower than
theoretical values and simulated values. The reason is that,
ideal models are used in theoretical computation and

0026-2692/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.mejo.2007.10.002
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1176 P.-H. Wang et al. / Microelectronics Journal 38 (2007) 1175–1180
software simulation, but there are some discrepancies
between real devices and ideal models. Moreover, these
studies have some disadvantages: the device structure is not
very suitable, material selection is limited, or fabrication
processes are very complicated. All these affect the real
performance of the devices.
In this work, a new vibration-based electromagnetic
micro power generator is presented. A novel electroplated
Cu planar spring is used as the resonant structure in the
microgenerator. The simulation analysis, fabrication pro-
cess and testing results of the vibration-based micro power
generator are also presented in the paper.
2. Microgenerator design
The schematic design of vibration-based electromagnetic
power generator is shown in Fig. 1. The structure is
composed of an upper resonant structure on silicon wafer
and a lower two-layer copper coil on glass substrate. The
resonant structure is a vertically polarized NdFeB perma-
nent magnet attached to the center of a copper planar
spring which consists of four spring beams and a platform.
When the magnet is vibrating, it will move towards the coil
and cause the change of the magnetic flux in the coil. As a
result, induced current and voltage will be generated in the
coil according to Faraday’s law of induction.
The resonant structure is a very important component in
vibration-based electromagnetic power generators. Because
silicon has many good mechanical properties, such as high
yield strength and low mechanical losses, many research
groups use silicon to fabricate the resonant structure
[7,11,12]. However, young’s modulus of silicon is too high,
which will make silicon spring give small deformation, thus
the displacement of mass and the output voltage are small.
In addition, silicon spring is very fragile and easily
damaged during handling and sudden shock. Copper has
lower young’s modulus than that of silicon and is cheaper
Planar spring Permanent magnet
Coil
Silicon substrate
Glass substrate
Fig. 1. Schematic structure of vibration-based electromagnetic micro
power generator.
than silicon. Moreover, copper spring can be easily
fabricated using standard electroplating technique.
Although copper’s yield strength is lower than that of
silicon, we can make the maximum stress of copper spring
below its yield strength by designing a suitable structure.
So an electroplated copper planar spring is designed,
fabricated and used as the resonant structure, which is the
main characteristic of our new micro power generator.
The spring beam with this special shape is shown in
Fig. 1. It has longer beam length, which can produce
smaller spring constant and bigger amplitude of vibration
[12]. Meanwhile, the corner of the spring beam is circular
which can decrease the stress intensity of the spring. The
dimensions of the platform are 3 mm  3 mm  0.02 mm.
The spring beam is 500 mm in width and 20 mm in thickness.
The gap between the beams is 500 mm. The two-layer coil is
also fabricated using MEMS technology. Either layer of
the coil consists of 30 turns with the linewidth of 25 mm, the
spacing of 25 mm and the thickness of 15 mm. The inner and
outer side lengths of the coil are 1.8 and 4.75 mm,
respectively. The dimensions of the permanent magnet
are 2 mm  2 mm  1 mm. The mass of the permanent
magnet is 31.2 mg.
3. Modal analysis
ANSYS modal analysis was used to predict the natural
frequency and mode shape of every resonant vibration
mode. The results of modal analysis are shown in Table 1
and Fig. 2. Table 1 shows that the natural frequencies of
the second and the third modes are very close. Fig. 2(a)
shows the first mode in which the spring and the magnet
vibrate in vertical direction. Fig. 2(b) and (c) shows that the
magnet cyclically rotates about an axis parallel to the plane
of the coil in the second and the third modes. The three
vibration mode shapes are very similar with Awaja et al.’s
work [12].
4. Fabrication
The fabrication steps of the copper planar spring are
shown in Fig. 3. The spring was fabricated on a double-side
polished silicon wafer which was thermally oxidized on
both sides. First, the AZ P4903 positive photoresist was
spin-coated on the backside of the silicon wafer and
patterned, and then the exposed SiO2 layer was etched in
HF solution. After the photoresist was stripped, a Cr/Cu
seed layer (150 nm) was sputtered on the front side of the
Table 1
Natural frequency of the first three modes
No. of modes Natural frequency (Hz)
Mode 1 48.586
Mode 2 146.72
Mode 3 146.89
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P.-H. Wang et al. / Microelectronics Journal 38 (2007) 1175–1180
Fig. 2. Simulated results of modal analysis: (a) first mode shape,
(b) second mode shape and (c) third mode shape.
wafer. Next, another photoresist layer was coated and
patterned, and then Cu planar spring was electroplated. In
the next step, photoresist layer was stripped, and the
1177
(a) Photo resist coating and patterning
(b) Etching the SiO2
Stripping photo resist
(c) Sputtering Cr/Cu seed layer
Photo resist coating and patterning
Electroplating Cu
(d) Stripping photo resist
Removing Cr/Cu seed layer
(e) Wet etching Si and SiO2
Si substrate Photo resist SiO2 Cr/Cu Copper
Fig. 3. Fabrication steps of copper planar spring on silicon.
Fig. 4. Photo of the backside of the planar copper spring.
exposed seed layer was etched. Finally, the exposed silicon
was etched in KOH solution and then SiO2 is etched in HF
solution from the backside of the silicon substrate. As a
result, the copper planar spring was released. Fig. 4 shows
the photo of the backside of the completed copper planar
spring on silicon. The dimensions of the outline border of
the Cu planar spring are 0.95 mm  0.95 mm.
The fabrication process of two-layer coil on glass
substrate is shown in Fig. 5. Firstly, a Cr/Cu (150 nm)
seed layer was sputtered onto the glass substrate, and then
the AZ P4903 positive photoresist was spin-coated and
patterned. Secondly, another photoresist layer was coated
and patterned after the low-Cu coil was electroplated, and
then Cu via was electroplated as a channel connecting the
two layers of the coil. Thirdly, the photoresist layer was
stripped, seed layer between the turns of the coil was etched
and a polyimide layer was coated, which served as an
insulation layer. In the next step, the polyimide layer was
roasted, grinded and polished. Then the top layer coil was
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1178 P.-H. Wang et al. / Microelectronics Journal 38 (2007) 1175–1180
fabricated on the polyimide layer by repeating the above
steps. Fig. 6 is the photograph of the micromachined coil.
After the copper planar spring and the two-layer coil
were fabricated, the next step was assembly process. It
(a) Sputtering Cr/Cu seed layer
Photo resist coating and patterning
(b) Electroplating Cu coil
Photo resist coating and patterning
Electroplating Cu via
(c) Photo resist stripping
Removing Cr/Cu seed layer
Polyimide coating
(d) Roasting, grinding and polishing
(e) Repeating (a)-(e) to fabricate the
top coil
Glass substrate Photo resist Polyimide Cr/Cu Copper
Fig. 5. Fabrication process of two-layer copper coil on glass substrate.
Fig. 6. Partial photograph of the micromachined copper coil.
Laser
detector Generator
Accelerometer
Oscillograph
Vibrator
Fig. 7. Block diagram of the experimental setup.
mainly consists of two steps: (1) attach the NdFeB
permanent magnet on the center of the copper planar
spring manually. The operation is done under the micro-
scope. (2) Glue the copper spring and the two-layer coil
together. The simulated results show that the maximum
displacement of the magnet is smaller than 1 mm. There-
fore, the 1 mm distance between the spring and the coil is
adopted in the assembled microgenerator.
5. Measurement and discussions
Fig. 7 shows the block diagram of the experimental
testing setup. A B&K4810 vibration generator is used to
supply mechanical vibrations to the microgenerator.
A B&K2706 power amplifier incorporated with a GW
waveform generator (GFG-8016G) is used to drive the
vibration generator and regulate vibration strength. The
microgenerator is glued on the top of the vibration
generator. A fiber interferometer & vibrometer controller
(OFV-3000 & OFV-502) is used to measure the amplitude
and the frequency of vibration of the copper planar spring,
which consists of a laser detector, a laser vibration measurer
and a spectrum analyzer. An accelerometer (ADXL-193) is
attached to the vibrator in order to measure the input
acceleration. An oscillograph (IWATSU SS-7802A) is
connected with the coil of the generator directly and used
to measure the open-circuit voltage of the microgenerator.
When the frequency of the input vibration is equal to the
natural frequency of the resonant structure, the spring-
mass system will produce the resonance, meanwhile, the
permanent magnet has the maximum of the amplitude and
the coil will produce the maximum of induced voltage [13].
So to find the resonance frequency is very important.
Firstly, sine wave input and swept frequency process were
used to search the natural frequency of the resonant
structure. After the resonance frequency was found, the
microgenerator is excited under the resonance frequency.
At the time, the maximum of the open-circuit voltage of the
coil can be obtained from the oscillograph. Meanwhile,
the accurate magnitude of the resonance frequency and the
maximum of the vibration amplitude can be obtained from
the spectrum analyzer. The point at which the displacement
Laser
vibration
measurer
Waveform
generator
Amplifier
Spectrum
analyser
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P.-H. Wang et al. / Microelectronics Journal 38 (2007) 1175–1180 1179

of the structure was measured is the central point of the up the increase of the resonance frequency. Because the
side of the magnet. The tests were performed at accelera- resonance frequency and amplitude of the second and
tion levels of 1.5g (g ¼ 9.8 m/s2). The relationship between third mode resonances are almost equal, the open-circuit
the open-circuit voltage and input frequency is shown in voltages of them are very close. Higher resonant frequency,
Fig. 8. The detailed testing results are shown in Table 2. bigger amplitude and magnet’s torsional movement result
Fig. 8 shows that the microgenerator resonates three in higher voltages of the second and third mode
times during the swept frequency process. Higher voltages resonances. Magnet’s torsional movement can increase
are generated at the resonant frequency, and the values of the change rate of magnetic flux in the coil and enhance the
the voltages are very small comparatively near the resonant induced voltage, which agrees with the reports of Ref. [5].
frequency. It can be seen from Table 2 that the maximum
of the open-circuit voltage is 60 mV ac peak–peak close to 6. Conclusions
the reports of Ref. [11], which shows that it is practicable to
use an electroplated copper planar spring as the resonant This paper presents the design, simulation, fabrication and
structure. These three resonance frequencies in Table 2 performance of a new vibration-based electromagnetic micro
comparatively match with the simulated results in Table 1. power generator which can convert mechanical vibration
Some discrepancies exit between the resonant frequencies energy into electrical power. Electroplating technique was
of the modal analysis and the ones of the experimental used to fabricate the copper planar spring which acts as the
results, which is most likely due to the assembly technique resonant structure of the microgenerator. The prototype
that we currently use. For example, the permanent magnet microgenerator fabricated by MEMS technology can gen-
is attached to the spring by glue without accurate erate 60 mV ac peak–peak with an input frequency of
alignment procedures, therefore its position may deviated 121.25 Hz and at input acceleration of 1.5g (g ¼ 9.8 m/s2).
the ideal position, which can cause a shift of resonant The experimental results about the resonant frequency show
frequency. a good agreement with the results of ANSYS modal analysis.
It can be seen from Table 2 that the open-circuit voltages The testing results show that the microgenerator suits
at the second and third mode resonances are bigger than harvesting vibration energy of low frequency.
the one at the first mode resonance, and the voltages at the Compared with reported electromagnetic microgenera-
second and the third mode resonances are very close. tor for harvesting vibration energy, our initial prototype
Table 2 shows that the generator can give high voltage with has these advantages: simple fabrication technique, low
cost and batch fabrication. In addition, the output voltage
of our prototype also arrived at a relative good level.
60 Further work for this project includes: (1) optimizing the
60
structures of the spring and the microgenerator and (2)
Open-circuit Voltage (mV)

50 50 assembling the microgenerator with alignment equipments.

Open-circuit Voltage (mV)

40
40 Acknowledgments
30

30 This work is supported by National High Technology

20
119 120 121 122 123 124 Research and Development Program of China (863
Input Frequency (Hz) Program) (No. 2006AA04Z360), National Natural Science
20
Foundation of China (No. 50405013), State Key Labora-
10
tory for Micro/Nano Fabrication Technology Foundation
(Project No.: 9140C790301060C79) and the Key Labora-
tory Foundation of Shanghai Science & Technology
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 Committee (Contract no.: 05dz22309). The authors would
Input Frequency (Hz) like to thank Engineer Bo-Jing of State Key Laboratory of
Mechanical System and Vibration (Shanghai Jiao Tong
Fig. 8. Open-circuit voltage of the generator versus input frequency. University) for technical assistance in the measurements.

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