Smart power management: integrated circuits and system solutions

近年来，随着微电子工业努力保持摩尔定律所预测的指数级增长，能源效率和电源管理已经成为人们关注的焦点。开关模式电源（SMPS）是有效提供当今现代混合信号（数字+模拟）集成电路（ic）所需的严格调节电源电压的关键使能技术。SMPS充当电源（如电池）和负载ic之间的接口。典型的SMPS使用高质量半导体开关、能量存储组件、传感器和控制电路的组合来调节存在干扰的一个或多个输出电压。最先进的SMPS具有90%以上的功率转换效率。由此产生的低散热允许多个SMPS与其负载电路集成到单个IC中。SMPS研究的明显趋势是数字控制回路，增加片上系统（SoC）应用中的集成，提高全负载范围内的效率和更高的开关频率，从而实现更小的储能组件。拟议研究的长期目标是使未来的集成电源更智能、更小、更高效、更强大、更可靠，同时减少电磁干扰（EMI）和环境影响。这项工作将侧重于具有特别严格可靠性标准的高压应用，其中系统故障会对人类造成可怕的后果。其中包括汽车、航空航天、生物医学和工业应用。在这些应用中，例如用于发动机管理或安全气囊的汽车控制单元，多个电源在恶劣的环境条件下运行，这推动了硅技术的极限。因此，需要专门的高压技术和电路来开发未来的汽车soc。短期研究将集中在电路级功率级效率优化，先进封装和混合集成技术，以及系统级创新。

In recent years, as the microelectronics industry struggles to stay on the path of exponential growth projected by Moore's law, energy efficiency and power-management have taken center stage. Switched-mode power supplies (SMPS) are the key enabling technology for efficiently delivering the tightly regulated supply voltages required by today's modern mixed-signal (digital+analog) integrated circuits (ICs). The SMPS acts as the interface between the energy source, such as a battery, and the load ICs. A typical SMPS uses a combination of high-quality semiconductor switches, energy storage components, sensors and control circuits to regulate one or more output voltages in the presence of disturbances. State-of-the-art SMPS have a power conversion efficiency above 90%. The resulting low heat dissipation allows multiple SMPS to be integrated with their load circuits into a single IC. The clear trend in SMPS research is toward digital control-loops, increased integration within system-on-chip (SoC) applications, higher efficiency over the full load-range and higher switching frequency, resulting in smaller energy storage components. The long-term goals of the proposed research are to make tomorrow's integrated power-supplies smarter, smaller, more efficient, more robust, and more reliable, while reducing electromagnetic interference (EMI) and environment impacts. This work will focus on high-voltage applications with particularly strict reliability standards, where system failure results in dire consequences to humans. These include automotive, aerospace, biomedical and industrial applications. In these applications, such as automotive control units for engine management or airbags, multiple power-supplies operate in harsh environmental conditions that push the limits of silicon technology. Accordingly, specialized high-voltage technologies and circuits are needed to develop tomorrow's automotive SoCs. The short-term research will be focused on circuit-level power-stage efficiency optimization, advanced packaging and hybrid-integration technologies, as well as system-level innovations.