Temperature Analysis of Schottky Diodes Rectifiers for Low-Power RF Energy Harvesting Applications

This article aims to contribute for the improvement of low-power Radio Frequency Energy Harvesting (RFEH) designs based on Schottky Barrier Diode (SBD) rectifiers, presenting a study of the relationship between RF-DC Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) and circuit temperature, which is directly related to the non-linear behavior of the metal-semiconductor junction of SBDs. For this purpose, SPICE diode models were revisited, evaluating the temperature dependence and its effects on forward and reverse conduction modes. The SBDs SMS7621 and SMS7630 temperature dependent characteristics are evaluated according the proposal, and their use is explored through analytical modeling and simulation analyzes of an RFEH system for temperatures ranging from 240 to 360 K. Hence, after an initial formulation of the optimum operation in terms of PCE, two series RF rectifiers are designed based on the mentioned diodes, aiming at an efficient operation over different temperature ranges according to each component optimum PCE, at 300 K for the SMS7630 and over 340 K for the SMS7621. For the SMS7630 prototype, the maximum measured PCE is 25.33% around 293 K, but decreases to 3.65% around 353 K, and for the SMS7621 the measured PCE goes from 11.56% to 16.34% in the same temperature range, considering -20 dBm as Input Power (P-in) due to the low-power RFEH premise. The results leads to a higher PCE stability for the SMS7621 through the whole analyzed range, despite the overall PCE that is limited by the matching network losses intrinsic to the design.