News and events of David Arnold's Research Group

Primary tabs

Miniaturization of Resonant Wireless Power Transfer System Components

Portable and wearable electronics require wireless charging to sustain mobile usage at convenient positions and locations. The goal is to develop a compact, highly power efficient wireless power transfer charging system operating at 6.78 MHz, which is compliant with the Rezence standard.The research scope includes development of a highly compact, high efficiency, ferrite-core receiver antenna; and a metamaterial lens to enhance WPT efficiency between the transmitter and the receiver.  In this work, we focus on WPT receiver modules for various portable and wearable consumable electronics with a power rating of ~10 W such as smart phones, radios, laptops, tablets, and military electronics. In future work, this technology could also be scalable to other power ranges, such as mW for biomedical implants to kW for automobiles.

Zero-Power Magnetic Field Sensors Using Magnetoelectric Nanowires

We seek to develop a platform that allows magnetic field sensing using a small footprint, in the absence of an external power supply. Our approach uses magnetoelectric nanofibers to create a zero-power magnetic field sensor. The challenge is to develop methods to assemble these materials into devices that leverage their unique anisotropic properties.

The figure of merit for magnetoelectric materials is the magnetoelectric coefficient, a measure of the amount of voltage generated with respect to the magnitude of the applied magnetic field. Bulk magnetoelectrics and thin films are limited by defects and substrate clamping respectively.  To overcome the limitations of thin-film based composite magnetoelectrics we have developed magnetoelectric bilayer structures on a single nanofiber, i.e., 1D magnetoelectrics. These materials are theoretically predicted to have magnetoelectric coupling coefficients that are orders of magnitude greater than their thin film counterparts. 

Magnetoelectric materials can be employed in a wide variety of applications including magnetic field sensors and tunable resonance energy harvesters.  By optimizing for material system and architecture, drastic increases in magnitude of voltage generated with decreased size can be achieved. This could allow for more sensitive magnetic field sensors appropriate for a wider array of applications and decreased size to allow for easier integration into ICs.
 

Large-area Manufacturing of Integrated Devices with Nanocomposite Magnetic Cores

As predicted by Moore's "law", the past few decades have seen massive reductions in the size of integrated circuits, enabling the portable, handheld devices now in everyday use. However, the components that power these devices have not experienced a similar size reduction. For example, the power adapter of a laptop computer is only modestly smaller than that two decades ago, and the printed circuit board inside a smart phone must dedicate between 20% and 40% of the board area for power conversion and management. To date, efforts towards miniaturization have been limited by both materials and manufacturing challenges. To address this gap, this research will study nanomanufacturing processes to facilitate the scalable synthesis of high quality magnetic nanoparticles and nanocomposite core materials and the fabrication of compact power inductors and transformers through assembly of these nanomaterials in a manner that is compatible with current manufacturing processes, such as silicon wafer or printed circuit board fabrication. This compatibility will enable fully integrated and compact system-on-chip or system-in-package power solutions. This research will be accomplished by fostering collaboration among disciplines including materials science, chemical engineering and electrical engineering. It will foster diversity in the profession by involving high school and undergraduate students in research activities and by broadening participation through the inclusion and engagement of women and underrepresented groups.

IMG @ Napa Microsystems Workshop 2017

IMG will be well-represented at the upcoming Napa Microsystems Workshop in August 2017:

Thick-Film Magnetic Materials for Integrated Microwave Systems (Oral)
X. Wen, Y. Wang, S. Hwangbo, Y.-K. Yoon, and D.P. Arnold
University of Florida, USA

A Nonlinearly Coupled Aluminum Nitride Matrix for Phase-Synchronous Reference Generation (Oral)
M. Ghatge and R. Tabrizian
University of Florida, USA

Observation of Acoustoelectric Amplification at Aluminum Nitride-Germanium Interface (Poster)
M. Ghatge, K. Kallam, and R. Tabrizian
University of Florida, USA

The 2017 Napa Microsystems Workshop is the fourth workshop in the Transducer Research Foundation's Napa Institute Series. This west-coast workshop shares a common heritage with the TRF's highly-regarded Hilton Head Solid-State Sensors, Actuators, and Microsystems Workshop.

SURF Students in IMG

IMG is pleased to be hosting 3 students in the inaugual Summer Undergraduate Research at Florida (SURF) program, a 10-week immersive research experience for high-performing undergrads.  The SURF cohort consists of 40 students from 23 universities in 16 states, as well as Puerto Rico. Please welcome: