AVS 47th International Symposium
    MEMS Friday Sessions
       Session MM+VT-FrM

Paper MM+VT-FrM5
Miniaturized Fuel Cell for Portable Power

Friday, October 6, 2000, 9:40 am, Room 309

Session: MEMS Actuators, Pumps, Power Devices, and Tribology
Presenter: H.L. Maynard, Lucent Technologies, Bell Laboratories
Authors: H.L. Maynard, Lucent Technologies, Bell Laboratories
J.P. Meyers, Lucent Technologies, Bell Laboratories
Correspondent: Click to Email
We are developing a silicon-based miniaturized fuel cell to power 0.5-20 W portable telecommunication, computing, and personal entertainment devices. Fuel cells provide a 5-10x improvement in energy storage over advanced rechargeable batteries, allow "instant recharge" (with the insertion of a fuel cartridge), and enable sustained operation away from the power grid. The fuel cell is a methanol-based proton-exchange membrane (PEM) device. Our design is implemented in silicon to leverage advanced silicon processing technology, expertise and facilities. Applying silicon processing techniques to the fuel cell structure enables precise control over the thin-film properties and interfaces, enabling optimization of the critical three-phase region of ionic conductivity, electronic conductivity and gas and/or fluid permeability. Additionally, using a wafer-based approach minimizes production costs, instead of individually constructing and assembling the components. The advantages and disadvantages of two designs will be discussed: a two-wafer bipolar design and a single-wafer integrated monolithic structure. We discuss key integration issues including: thermal management, water control, air movement, fuel delivery, and power conditioning. We will also present preliminary experimental results.