STTR Phase I: Wafer-Integrated Soft Magnetic Composite Films for Inductors with High Power Density and Efficiency

这一小型企业技术转移(STTR)第一阶段项目的更广泛/商业影响是给广泛应用于手机、物联网设备和微型传感器的微型供电集成电路(IC)转换器市场带来革命性的变化。该技术将减少各种模块的外形尺寸，从而进一步实现片上组件的小型化。一家制造工厂可以根据每个客户的设计提供集成电感的代工能力，从而为几家IC公司提供服务。这项技术可以为美国此类设备的制造商提供在商业和国防市场的非常大的移动电子和微电子市场上的显著竞争优势。在美国建立制造能力将支持组件封装和后端集成业务的复兴。移动设备的小型化正在快速增长。在车载功率转换器中，电感和电容器等无源元件是最大的元件之一。与IC兼容的、低成本、低损耗、高频(10 MHz)和高饱和磁化强度的软磁芯的缺乏限制了片上电感的实施。该项目旨在为电感铁芯创造创新的软磁复合材料(SMC)材料。与IC兼容的高性能SMC薄膜将首次被开发出来，其厚度可以扩展到50微米或更高，而不会损失性能。该项目的初步目标将是开发高磁矩、低损耗、SMC材料的物理和电化学合成方法，这些材料可用于制造片上电感，取代电路中基于铁氧体磁芯的电感。该方法可以扩展以处理不同的功率范围，并可以集成在晶片、封装基板或电路板上。这些核心将使电感厚度减少至少10倍，用于低外形因数、使用点、直流(DC)到直流(DC)电源转换器和IC电压调节电路。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is to revolutionize the miniature-powered Integrated Circuit (IC) converter market, widely used in cellular phones, Internet of Things devices, and microsensors. The technology will provide form factor reductions of various modules, leading to the further miniaturization of on-chip components. A manufacturing facility can service several IC companies by providing foundry capabilities to integrate inductors according to each customer’s design. The technology can provide US manufacturers of such devices with a significant competitive edge in the very large mobile electronics and miniature electronics markets both in commercial and defense markets. Establishing manufacturing capability in the US will support a revival of component packaging and back-end integration business. Mobile device miniaturization is increasing at a rapid rate. In on-board power converters, passive components such as inductors and capacitors are among the largest components. The non-availability of IC-compatible, low-cost, soft magnetic cores with low loss, high frequency (10MHz), and high saturation magnetization limits the implementation of on-chip inductors. The project aims to create innovative, soft magnetic composite (SMC) materials for inductor cores. IC-compatible high-performance SMC films, with thicknesses that can be scaled to 50 microns and above without losing performance, will be developed for the first time. The project's initial goal will be to develop physical and electrochemical synthesis methodologies for high magnetic moment, low loss, SMC materials that can be used to fabricate on-chip inductors, replacing ferrite core-based inductors in circuits. The approach can be scaled to handle different ranges of power and can be integrated on wafers, package substrates, or boards. These cores will enable inductor thickness to be reduced by at least 10 times for use in low form factor, point-of-use, direct current (DC) to DC power converters and IC voltage regulator circuitry.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.