Thin Film Battery Management System Using a-Si and nc-Si Diodes and TFTs

Abstract

Advances in organic and thin film technology have advanced the implementation of large area electronics. However, these devices have yet to fully address the issue of sufficient power management; current designs rely heavily on thin film solar cells that impose temporal restrictions or rigid discrete battery components that impose application restrictions. Recent development of thin film batteries provides an opportunity to address both of these limitations. In this work, a survey analyzing current amorphous silicon thin film transistor, solar cell, and thin film battery is presented to develop parameters and restrictions for a battery management system. Using these restrictions, two boost converter implementations were simulated using thin film transistor SPICE models to determine if current behavior is replicated in the thin film domain. Ultimately, the poor results suggests directing research towards development of a holistic power management circuit that controls solar cells with thin film batteries using diodes and NMOS thin film transistors. This research focused on optimizing the specific diodes used in the circuit to lead to a more energy efficient and robust battery management control.