Spintronic nano-scale harvester of broadband microwave energy

Abstract

The harvesting of ambient radio-frequency (RF) energy is an attractive and\nclean way to realize the idea of self-powered electronics. Here we present a\ndesign for a microwave energy harvester based on a nanoscale spintronic diode\n(NSD). This diode contains a magnetic tunnel junction with a canted\nmagnetization of the free layer, and can convert RF energy over the frequency\nrange from 100 MHz to 1.2 GHz into DC electric voltage. An attractive property\nof the developed NSD is the generation of an almost constant DC voltage in a\nwide range of frequencies of the external RF signals. We further show that the\ndeveloped NSD provides sufficient DC voltage to power a low-power nanodevice -\na black phosphorus photo-sensor. Our results demonstrate that the developed NSD\ncould pave the way for using spintronic detectors as building blocks for\nself-powered nano-systems, such as implantable biomedical devices, wireless\nsensors, and portable electronics.\n