SBIR Phase II: Integrated DC-DC Converters Using Thin-film Magnetic Power Inductors

SBIR 第二阶段：使用薄膜磁性功率电感器的集成 DC-DC 转换器

• 批准号: 1330921
• 负责人: Noah Sturcken
• 金额: $ 75万
• 依托单位: FERRIC, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-08-01 至 2016-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1330921&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Integrated; DC

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop integrated DC-DC power converters using magnetic thin-film power inductors. Currently, microprocessors and systems-on-chip (SoCs) are powered with board level voltage regulators assembled from discrete components. As supply voltages have scaled for digital integrated circuits (ICs), this power delivery paradigm has become increasingly inefficient, as power is delivered through the resistance of the power delivery network (PDN) at low voltages and high currents. In a typical case where 100 W is delivered at 1 V, 10% of the total power delivered may be wasted in the resistance of the PDN. The objective of this project is to commercialize power converters utilizing inductors with precisely engineered laminations of high permeability magnetic material. This will enable a significant improvement in power converter current density and subsequently enable power supplies for microprocessors and systems-on-chip to be down-converted in the same package, or even on the same die. This new class of integrated voltage regulators (IVRs) will provide as much as a 20% reduction in total power consumption for digital ICs by reducing resistive losses and enabling improved power management techniques.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is a reduction in power consumption for all digital computing platforms, ranging from smartphones to data centers. The total energy savings potential for this new class of technology is estimated at 15 billion kWh within the United States alone; this is equivalent to roughly 10 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. This technology will also significantly reduce the physical footprint for digital ICs, enabling a significant reduction in form factor for all classes of computing platforms. Voltage regulators utilizing integrated magnetic thin-film inductors will have cost and performance advantages over the other voltage regulator products that are commercially available. Therefore this technology is expected to have a sizeable impact on the $10 billion worldwide voltage regulator market. Furthermore, the integration of magnetic materials with Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technology will facilitate advances in other magnetic based systems, such as magnetic filters, sensors and imagers. Likewise, the experience gained from commercializing a magnetic material process module with CMOS technology will lower the technological barriers for other forms of heterogeneous integration.

该小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目将开发使用磁性薄膜功率电感的集成DC-DC电源转换器。目前，微处理器和片上系统(SoC)使用由分立元件组装的板级电压调节器供电。随着数字集成电路(IC)电源电压的增大，这种电力输送模式变得越来越低效，因为电力是通过电力输送网络(PDN)的电阻在低电压和大电流下输送的。在以1V提供100W的典型情况下，所提供的总功率的10%可能浪费在PDN的电阻上。该项目的目标是将采用高磁导率磁性材料精密设计的电感的功率转换器商业化。这将显著提高功率转换器的电流密度，并随后使微处理器和片上系统的电源能够在相同的封装中下变频，甚至在相同的管芯上下变频。通过减少电阻损耗和改进电源管理技术，这种新型集成电压调节器(IVR)将使数字IC的总功耗降低高达20%。该项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是降低从智能手机到数据中心的所有数字计算平台的功耗。仅在美国，这一新技术的总节能潜力估计为150亿千瓦时；这相当于大约1000万吨二氧化碳排放。这项技术还将显著减少数字IC的物理占地面积，使所有类别的计算平台的外形系数大幅降低。使用集成磁性薄膜电感的电压调节器将比其他商业上可用的电压调节器产品具有成本和性能优势。因此，这项技术预计将对全球100亿美元的稳压市场产生相当大的影响。此外，磁性材料与互补金属氧化物半导体(CMOS)技术的集成将促进其他基于磁性的系统的发展，如磁过滤器、传感器和成像器。同样，将采用CMOS技术的磁性材料处理模块商业化所获得的经验将降低其他形式的异质集成的技术壁垒。