The design and optimization of two low frequency energy harvesters employing 3C-SiC/AlN/Mo composite layers
This paper presents the design and simulation of twocantilever-based energy harvesters that employs cubic silicon carbide on silicon (3C-SiC-on-Si) wafer as the base material and bottom electrode. Aluminum Nitride (AlN) is employed as the piezoelectric/middle layer due to its excellent material properties and high stability in varying temperature and harsh environment. Molybdenum (Mo) serves as the top layer/electrode. The thickness of the structural layers are optimized through MATLAB and also analyzed via Finite Element Analysis using Intellisuite. Two designs are proposed at low resonant frequency, one with conventional cantilever beam, the other being a T-shaped cantilever beam. Both structures are simulated and their performances are compared.