Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Andersson, Olof
• Maas, Joris
• Gelinck, Gerwin
• Kemerink, Martijn

Titel

Scalable Electronic Ratchet with Over 10% Rectification Efficiency

Ist Teil von

• Advanced science, 2020-02, Vol.7 (3), p.1902428-n/a

Ort / Verlag

Germany: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Electronic ratchets use a periodic potential with broken inversion symmetry to rectify undirected (electromagnetic, EM) forces and can in principle be a complement to conventional diode‐based designs. Unfortunately, ratchet devices reported to date have low or undetermined power conversion efficiencies, hampering applicability. Combining experiments and numerical modeling, field‐effect transistor‐based ratchets are investigated in which the driving signal is coupled into the accumulation layer via interdigitated finger electrodes that are capacitively coupled to the field effect transistor channel region. The output current–voltage curves of these ratchets can have a fill factor >> 0.25 which is highly favorable for the power output. Experimentally, a maximum power conversion efficiency well over 10% at 5 MHz, which is the highest reported value for an electronic ratchet, is determined. Device simulations indicate this number can be increased further by increasing the device asymmetry. A scaling analysis shows that the frequency range of optimal performance can be scaled to the THz regime, and possibly beyond, while adhering to technologically realistic parameters. Concomitantly, the power output density increases from ≈4 W m−2 to ≈1 MW m−2. Hence, this type of ratchet device can rectify high‐frequency EM fields at reasonable efficiencies, potentially paving the way for actual use as energy harvester. This study investigates ratchets driven by two sets of asymmetrically spaced interdigitated finger electrodes situated within a dielectric layer on top of an indium–gallium–zinc oxide field‐effect transistor. The maximum experimentally observed efficiency is above 10% at 5 MHz. Via simulations, engineering guidelines are established for increasing the power output and efficiency into the THz range and beyond.