Development and fabrication of an LTCC multilayer coil inducer in a vibration-based electromagnetic meso-generator

This paper presents a new development in the fabrication of vibration-based electromagnetic meso-generators, using a low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technique. The LTCC process produces multilayer structures consisting of an embedded silver micro-coil in a helical ceramic micro-spring, fabricating an inducer in only a few steps. The design of our device consists of an LTCC inducer, a neodymium–iron–boron permanent magnet and two plastic spacers. The micro-coil and the micro-spring are patterned using a screen-printing technique and a carbon-dioxide laser drilling method, respectively. The silver material and multilayer structure are chosen in order to enhance both current output and power output. A 6-layer coil structure is fabricated, with a cross-sectional area of 900 μm2 for each layer. After assembly, the volume of the generator is approximately 718 mm3. When operated at 69 Hz vibration frequency and vibration amplitude of 0.03 mm, the generator yields a maximum voltage output of 44.5 mV, a maximum current output of 83.1 mA and a power output level of 1.56 mW. Results demonstrate that the LTCC meso-generator is a suitable choice to use for the enhancement of electricity.