Design and implementation of MEMS design consists of a cascade of CW voltage doublers, in which the

Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier output of the previous doubler acts as the supply voltage of the next
doubler. Because the CW multipliers multiply the DC input, there is no
L. Li and D. Uttamchandani need to convert the output of each doubler into a clock signal. Using
this design enhancement, the total amplification is 2Nd compared with
A design modification to the Cockcroft-Walton (CW) voltage multi- the amplification of the classical design of 2Nd (Nd is the number of dou-
plier is reported for the purpose of miniaturisation using MEMS. The blers, Ns ¼ 2Nd. The modified design must have an even number of
configuration comprises a cascade of CW voltage-doublers connected stages). By this modification, the number of stages Ns is significantly
through their outputs and supply points (Vdd). Each voltage doubler is reduced when converting a relatively low voltage to a very high output.
a two-stage CW multiplier that consists of four switches and Fig. 1b shows the principle of the modified design.
three capacitors. The classical CW voltage multiplier has voltage From an implementation point of view, a CW voltage multiplier cannot
amplification of Ns , where Ns ¼ 2Nd (Nd is the number of voltage lend itself to integration in monolithic form because, in practice, on-chip
doublers), while the modified design has an amplification of 2Nd. capacitors are limited to a few picofarads with relatively high values of
Using this configuration, a novel MEMS voltage doubler has been
stray capacitance to substrate [10]. However, low stray capacitance-to-sub-
experimentally realised with micro-relays and capacitors. The MEMS
relays and capacitors were fabricated using the MetalMUMPs strate and high capacitance on-chip capacitors can be realised by construct-
MEMS process. Measurements on the MEMS voltage doubler have ing suspended parallel plate capacitors using microelectromechanical
been conducted. A voltage output of 400 V has been demonstrated, systems (MEMS) technology. MEMS technology can offer an elegant
and the risetime is measured to be around 260 ms. and practical solution to minimise the undesired effects, particularly loss
and stray capacitance due to the substrate, by enabling suspended electrical
structures, i.e. structures without a substrate underneath them. Moreover, a
Introduction: The Cockcroft-Walton (CW) voltage multiplier was
MEMS contacting relay has advantages of a high breakdown voltage
developed in 1932 [1] and is widely used in many applications, includ-
( several hundreds to one thousand volts), low contacting resistance,
ing lasers, accelerators, ultra-high-voltage electron microscopes and
and good electrical isolation between driving and switching circuits. In
X-ray power generators [2 – 5]. Since its development, a number of
the next Section, design and fabrication of a MEMS voltage doubler con-
modifications have been made to overcome voltage ripple and to
structed with micro-relays and capacitors fabricated using a MEMS
improve the stability of the output voltage [4 –6]. The classical CW mul-
foundry process (MetalMUMPs) are described and the experimental
tiplier consists of voltage multiplier ladder networks, which can be
results for the MEMS-based voltage doubler are presented.
broken down into Ns multiplying stages, where each stage is formed
by two capacitors and two SPSD switches, as shown in Fig. 1a. CW
multipliers are mainly implemented in discrete form, since it is imprac- top plate bottom
nickel + gold plate:
tical to build monolithic integrated CW multipliers owing to the rela- C
polysilicon
tively large on-chip stray capacitances. Consequently, the Dickson dielectric
voltage multiplier circuit was introduced with the purpose of construct- layer:
silicon substrate silicon
ing high efficiency monolithic multiplier circuits [7]. The difference nitride
between CW and Dickson voltage multipliers is that, in Dickson
voltage multipliers, the voltage across each pump capacitor increases schematic cross-section view of capacitor
from one stage to the next along the signal path while in CW the design using MetalMUMPs process
voltage across each pump capacitor is the same as Vdd. Chang and Hu
[8] proposed an exponential-gain circuit based on the Dickson multi- MEMS relay
MEMS capacitor
plier. For the circuit configuration described in [8], since the output of
the Dickson multiplier is a DC value, to make the clock voltage grow
exponentially along with the number of stages cascaded, many DC-to-
clock converters (comparators and buffers) have to be used, although
the number of switches is reduced. In practice, the output voltages of
monolithic Dickson voltage multipliers are limited by the breakdown
voltage of semiconductor devices, which normally occur at a value of
tens of volts [9]. In this Letter, two technical issues are addressed: (a)
design modification for the generation of much higher output voltages
using the same number of switches but smaller number of capacitors
compared to the classical CW multiplier, and (b) implementation of
the modified configuration high-voltage multiplier using MEMS
technology.

4Vdd
4Vdd
3Vdd
2Vdd
2Vdd
2Vdd

Vdd voltage doubler circuit

Vdd Vdd
doubler as shown in Fig.1b
doubler

a b

Fig. 1 Principle of classical CW voltage multiplier, and principle of modi-

fied CW voltage multiplier Fig. 2 Schematic cross-section view of capacitor design, circuit diagram of
a Classical CW voltage multiplier MEMS voltage doubler, and SEM image of fabricated MEMS micro-relays
b Modified CW voltage multiplier and micro-capacitors

To develop a miniaturised high-voltage generator, from a circuit design
point of view, the aim is to use as few stages as possible to achieve a large
voltage amplification. Increasing the number of stages inevitably reduces
the efficiency of the multiplier and increases the complexity of miniatur-
ising the generator. In this Letter, a design enhancement to the classical
CW voltage multiplier is proposed to address this issue. The modified
Design and fabrication of MEMS voltage doubler: In the modified CW
voltage multiplier, the key element is the voltage doubler, while the key
components in a MEMS voltage doubler are micro-relays and micro-
capacitors. A MEMS micro-relay and a metal-nitride-polysilicon capaci-
tor have been chosen to construct the MEMS doubler circuit. To achieve
low contacting resistance and electronic isolation between driving and

ELECTRONICS LETTERS 1st January 2009 Vol. 45 No. 1

switching circuits of the micro-relays, the MetalMUMPs process [11]
has been used to fabricate both micro-relays and micro-capacitors,
since the process provides around 25 mm metal (nickel) structural
layer, which is suitable for making contacting type relays. In the
micro-relay design, the heater for the actuators is located under the
chevron beam, and there is a thin layer of silicon nitride between
the heater and the actuator beam, acting as an electrical isolation layer.
The capacitor is designed using a metal-nitride-polysilicon parallel
plate arrangement. The measured capacitance of the parallel plate
capacitor is around 1 nF. Fig. 2 shows the scanning electron micro-
graph of the fabricated micro-relays and capacitors.
Experiment: After receiving the micro fabricated devices from the
MEMS foundry, the micro-relays and micro-capacitors were electrically
connected using a wire bonder to form a voltage doubler circuit. The
voltage doubler was tested according to the circuit diagram shown in
Fig. 2. A two-channel TTi arbitrary waveform generator was used to
generate two square waves, which have 1808 phase difference, for
driving the micro-relays. The switch-on voltage for the micro-relays is
characterised to be 4 V. 5 and 15 Hz signals were applied to the relays
and the risetime of the voltage doubler was monitored using a
Tektronix two-channel oscilloscope. Fig. 3 shows that it takes 760 ms
for the MEMS voltage doubler to be fully charged up when the relays
are driven with 5 Hz square wave, and it takes around 260 ms for the
MEMS voltage doubler to be fully charged up when the relays are
driven with 15 Hz. At frequencies above 15 Hz, the risetime remains
unchanged. The MEMS voltage doubler has demonstrated an output
voltage of greater than 400 V without failure.
driving signals
output
signal
input
signal
a 6 Iqbal, S.: ‘A three-phase symmetrical multistage voltage multiplier’,
b 10 Witters, J.S., Groeseneken, G., and Maes, A.E.: ‘Analysis and modeling
Fig. 3 Experimental results of MEMS voltage doubler
a Micro-relays driven at 5 Hz
b Micro-relays driven at 15 Hz
Conclusion: A design of a MEMS CW voltage multiplier has been
proposed and verified by experiments. This design has much higher
ELECTRONICS LETTERS 1st January 2009 Vol. 45 No. 1
amplification with the same number of switches and smaller number
of capacitors compared to the traditional design. The key element in
the voltage multiplier, namely the voltage doubler, has been
implemented for the first time using MEMS relays and capacitors
which were fabricated using the MetalMUMPs process. Experiments
on the MEMS voltage doubler have been conducted and an output
voltage of 400 V has been demonstrated. A 760 ms charge-up time
was measured with a 5 Hz driving signal, and a 260 ms charge-up
time was measured with a 15 Hz driving signal.
Acknowledgment: L. Li is supported by SFC funded Glasgow Research
Partnership in Engineering.
# The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2009
24 September 2008
Electronics Letters online no: 20092767
doi: 10.1049/el:20092767
L. Li and D. Uttamchandani (Centre for Microsystems and Photonics,
Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, University of
Strathclyde, 204 George Street, Glasgow G1 1XW, United Kingdom)
E-mail: ljli@eee.strath.ac.uk
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