Design and Fabrication of On-Chip Coupled Inductors Integrated With Magnetic Material for Voltage Regulators

On-chip strip-line coupled inductors integrated with magnetic material are a promising technology option to enable on-chip voltage regulators for improving power management in microelectronics. We report on design methodologies where several examples of parameter tradeoffs are presented. When considered with practical integration constraints, these result in an optimized structure. Strip-line inductors integrated with Ni₈₀Fe₂₀ were then fabricated, electrically characterized, and compared to models. Electrical characterization included frequency dependent measurements of effective self and mutual inductance, effective resistance, coupling coefficient, and saturation effects.