Design and Roadmap Methodology for Integrated Power Modules in High Switching Frequency Synchronous Buck Voltage Regulators

The proposed methodology encompasses four study phases that address the following key design aspects of integrated power modules (IPM) for voltage regulators: Fundamental switching understanding, determination of compact/accurate loss expressions and derivation of design rules, guidelines and figure of merits for converter optimisation. The applied methods are based on several modelling approaches suitable for the different study phases. The simplified loss model proves to be effective to breakdown the power losses of a state of the art IPM. Analysis of an optimised design leads to the identification of critical circuit and device parameters that may well condition the layout of future technological roadmap targets.