Batteryless continuous environment sensing using MEMS-CMOS non-volatile memory and charge storage

This paper reports an Always “ON” wireless sensor that continuously tracks the environment and stores sense data on-chip without a battery. The sensor is enabled by ultra energy-efficient single transistor MEMS-CMOS non-volatile memory (NVM) and sensor switch arrays that extract energy for switching directly from their sense parameter. The overall energy requirements for sensing and digital data storage are lowered by 100-1000× enabling operation using on-chip MEMS-switch isolated stored charge. This sensor performs sensing and data storage for a few weeks outside the RF field, and without battery or requiring significant source of energy scavenging.