Fabrication and characterization of microinductors for distributed power converters

Author

Brandon, Erik J. ; Wesseling, Emily ; White, Victor ; Ramsey, Chris ; Castillo, Linda Del ; Lieneweg, Udo

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

Volume

39

Issue

4

fYear

2003

fDate

7/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2049

Lastpage

2056

Abstract

Inductors play a key role in DC-DC converters, but few options exist for implementing on-chip inductors for highly miniaturized, monolithic power converters. Microinductors constructed by standard microelectronic fabrication techniques with magnetic films as the core material have been investigated during the past 20 years with mixed results. A 13-mm² microinductor based on a spiral geometry and having L = 3.2 μH and Q = 1.3 at 1 MHz is reported here. Key issues regarding microinductor design and performance are discussed.

Keywords

DC-DC power convertors; Q-factor; magnetic thin film devices; power integrated circuits; thin film inductors; 1 MHz; DC-DC converters; distributed power electronics; integrated passive components; magnetic films; microinductors; monolithic power converters; on-chip inductors; spiral geometry; standard microelectronic fabrication techniques; Fabrication; Inductance; Inductors; Magnetic cores; Magnetic films; Magnetic flux; Magnetic materials; Spirals; Switched-mode power supply; Toroidal magnetic fields;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMAG.2003.812705

Filename

1211181