SBIR Phase II: Integrated Voltage Regulators for Small Footprint, Efficient Power Delivery in Mobile Electronics

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目旨在开发比现有解决方案小10倍的集成电压调节器（IVR）。电源管理IC（PMIC）是移动的电子设备中的芯片，其将来自电池的电力输送到不同的芯片（例如，处理器、存储器）。现有的PMIC使用分立的板级电感器来高效地提供功率，但问题是电感器在板上占据很大的面积。这在空间受限的移动的电子设备中尤其成问题。移动终端制造商投入了大量的努力来减少电路板面积的平方毫米，以便为新功能的附加半导体芯片腾出空间。使用IVR，移动的设备可以有额外的空间，以前专门用于PMIC的大体积分立元件，并使用该空间来包括用于新功能的新芯片或增加电池尺寸以延长电池寿命。该项目将首先在半导体测试芯片原型上工作，以证明IVR的想法。然后，下一步是在商业移动的电子设备中进行演示。该项目的目标是通过取代现有的PMIC，在大批量智能手机和平板电脑中推出IVR。该项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力在于节省移动的设备的电路板面积和处理器功耗，这对移动的设备的持续创新至关重要。移动终端制造商一直在寻找新功能添加到他们的下一代产品中，以使自己从竞争对手中脱颖而出。新功能通常需要额外的芯片，但问题是移动的设备中根本没有为新芯片留下的空间。解决这个问题的一种方法是缩小电池，为芯片留下更多的空间，但这是不可接受的，因为它会缩短电池寿命。不断引入新功能和芯片的唯一方法是减少现有的电路板面积。IVR解决了移动的设备的这种迫切需求。使用IVR，手机和平板电脑将有额外的空间在他们的董事会，包括新的功能，如微型投影仪和超准确的运动传感。该项目开发的技术对于移动的设备不断改进新功能至关重要。该项目旨在对快速增长的智能手机和平板电脑市场产生重大影响，年出货量分别为10亿和2.5亿。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to develop integrated voltage regulators (IVR) that are 10 times smaller than existing solutions. Power management ICs (PMICs) are chips in mobile electronic devices that deliver power from the battery to different chips (e.g., processor, memory). Existing PMICs use discrete board-level inductors to efficiently deliver power, but the problem is that inductors occupy a large area on the board. This is especially problematic in space-constrained mobile electronic devices. Mobile device manufacturers put tremendous amounts of effort to reduce square millimeters of board area to make room for additional semiconductor chips for new features. Using IVRs, mobile devices can have extra space that used to be dedicated to bulky discrete components for PMICs, and use that space to either include new chips for new features or increase the battery size for longer battery life. This project will first work on semiconductor test-chip prototypes that prove the idea of IVRs. Then, the next step is to demonstrate it in commercial mobile electronic devices. The goal of the project is to ship IVRs in high-volume smartphones and tablets by replacing existing PMICs.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is in saving board area and processor power consumption in mobile devices, which is crucial for continued innovation in mobile devices. Mobile device manufacturers always look for new features to add in their next generation products to differentiate themselves from competitors. New features often need additional chips, but the problem is that there is simply no area left in the mobile devices for new chips. One way to solve this is to shrink the battery and leave more room for chips, but this is unacceptable since it reduces battery life. The only way to keep introducing new features and chips is to reduce the existing board area. IVRs solve this burning need of mobile devices. Using IVRs, phones and tablets will have extra space in their board to include new features such as micro-projectors and ultra-accurate motion sensing. The technology developed from this project is essential in allowing mobile devices to keep improving with new features. This project aims to have a big impact in the fast-growing smartphone and tablet market with 1 billion and 250 million in annual shipments, respectively.