Ultralow-profile micromachined power inductors with highly laminated Ni/Fe cores: application to low-megahertz DC-DC converters

Micromachined inductors with submillimeter profiles and comparable electrical performance to thicker, commercially-available surfacemount devices, have been fabricated and characterized for low-megahertz dc-dc converters. The fabrication approach involves micronscale lamination of Ni/Fe cores, combined with three-dimensional micromachined copper windings. The magnetic core of the fabricated inductor has 72 laminations of 1-(mu)m-thick Ni/Fe films. The inductor dimension is 11.5 * 5.7 * 0.7 mm, and the dc resistance is 150 m(omega). A maximum Q of 9.2 at 3 MHz with an inductance value of 2.3 (mu)H and a dc saturation current (I80) of 0.2 A were obtained. Use of this inductor in a regulated dc-dc boost converter circuit (7-12 V) operating at 2.2 MHz yielded 1.9-W power output at 71% efficiency.