Toward an active contact lens: Integration of a wireless power harvesting IC

The overarching goal of an active contact lens is to integrate sensing or display functionality onto a wearable device, enabling on-lens medical monitoring and heads-up displays. We present progress toward a wirelessly-powered active contact lens comprising a transparent polymer substrate, loop antenna, power harvesting IC, and a custom micro-LED. The fully integrated radio power harvesting and a power management system was fabricated in a 0.13 ¿m CMOS process and utilizes a small on-chip capacitor as an energy storage element to light up a microLED pixel. We have demonstrated wireless power transfer and LED intensity control using the custom IC and on-lens antenna.