Study Group of the University of Freiburg (Germany) and semiconductor chip manufacturer Micronas AG have created an array of power sources on the chip. The development will create fully autonomous microsystems, also known as "smart dust".

The chip contains 42 miniature battery for CMOS-device, plus four cells for the control scheme and maintains a constant output voltage equal to 3.3V. Although semiconductor structures were fabricated using standard process CMOS, power cells, comprising a layer of palladium cathode and a membrane, were added during subsequent processing, said Charles Hoffman (Karl Hoffmann), who oversees the project from Micronas.

According to Hoffman, the challenge is a smart combination of trace elements in food so that they can be controlled, while maintaining the maximum output voltage is stable during the lifetime of the element. "By installing several elements in parallel and sequentially, is much easier to maintain a constant voltage and current", ─ Hoffman said.

The batteries on the chip have a service life about a year and a nominal load of the order of tenths Tues In the future, new batteries can be replicated in different autonomous systems, especially those that may be unavailable for normal power supply. According to Hoffman, device, accumulating energy, will not be competitive food-on-chip. "Rather, they can complement each other", ─ says Hoffman. ─ "The batteries on the chip can be used to provide power at a time when conventional batteries do not provide enough energy.

It looks like a space technology? Not too much, "said Hoffman. The researchers consider more mundane applications of this development. For example, the creation of autonomous monitoring systems.