Self-biased magnetoelectric Ni/LiNbO3/Ni for body embedded electronic energy harvesters

TL;DR

This paper reports on Ni/LiNbO3/Ni trilayers with self-biased magnetoelectric properties, enabling wireless power transfer for medical implants without external magnetic bias, advancing healthcare device technology.

Contribution

It introduces a fabrication method for self-biased magnetoelectric trilayers with high adherence and demonstrates their application in powering medical implants wirelessly.

Findings

Achieved high magnetoelectric coefficients in Ni/LiNbO3/Ni trilayers.

Enabled remote powering of medical implants with small AC magnetic fields.

Demonstrated self-biased behavior through magnetic anisotropy engineering.

Abstract

In this study, we present the fabrication and characterization of Ni/LiNbO3/Ni trilayers using RF sputtering. These trilayers exhibit thick Ni layers (10 microns) and excellent adherence to the substrate, enabling high magnetoelectric coefficients. By engineering the magnetic anisotropy of Nickel through anisotropic thermal residual stress induced during fabrication, and by selecting a carefully chosen cut angle for the LiNbO3 substrate, we achieved a self-biased behavior. We demonstrate that these trilayers can power medical implant devices remotely using a small AC magnetic field excitation, thereby eliminating the need for a DC magnetic field and bulky magnetic field sources. The results highlight the potential of these trilayers for the wireless and non-invasive powering of medical implants. This work contributes to the advancement of magnetoelectric materials and their applications in healthcare technology.