A Review of On-Chip Micro Supercapacitors for Integrated Self-Powering Systems

Miniaturized self-powering systems that integrate both energy harvesters and energy storage units as the power sources are essential to realize maintenance-free wireless sensor networks, implantable medical devices, and active radio frequency identification systems. On-chip micro supercapacitors (MSCs) are promising candidates for energy storage in such systems by providing high power densities, fast charge/discharge rates, and long cycle life. Researchers have been improving the performances, especially energy and power densities, of MSCs in recent years. This paper reviews the fundamental working mechanisms and design considerations of on-chip MSCs with special emphasis on the advantages of 3-D configurations. Typical fabrication methods are summarized, and their effects on the device performance and system integration are analyzed. In particular, the power generation of micro energy harvesters and the power consumption of typical wireless micro systems are surveyed, providing the basic and targeting performance requirements of future MSCs that can be integrated with them.