High voltage ultrathin-photovoltaic minimodules: Fabrication technology and application to bioimplantable telesupplying

•Description of high voltage photovoltaic thin-minimodules of 0.49 cm2, exhibiting open circuit voltages up to 99 V.•Description of a mechanical thinning process of the devices, achieving thicknesses from 20 to 70 μm.•Case study of a real application shows that a good energy balance of the whole system can be reached.

In this work we show small (0.49 cm2) and thin (<70 μm) photovoltaic mini-generators capable of providing open circuit voltages up to 99 V and short circuit currents of 43 μA, achieving a maximum density power of 4.8 mW/cm2. The fabrication process and the thinning process of the minimodules are reported as well as its potential use in high voltage wearable or implantable applications. In this work we show the potential of this technology for high voltage low power consumption applications by means of a simulation study.The minimodules have been modeled using the well known one diode model and simulation results obtained using this model have been validated experimentally. An application example based on simulation for an implantable micropump low power consuming is shown. The system simulates real consumptions of 3 mW working at voltages of 90 Vpp (±45 V) and a frequency of 1 kHz. Simulation results show that the PV system formed by two minimodules allows the micropump system working for 3 h/day showing a good energy balance of the whole system.

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