O'Donnell, T;Wang, N;Meere, R;Rhen, F;Roy, S;O'Sullivan, D;O'Mathuna, C

APEC 2008: TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL IEEE APPLIED POWER ELECTRONICS CONFERENCE AND EXPOSITION, VOLS 1-4

Microfabricated inductors for 20 MHz dc-dc converters

2008

January

Validated

1

WOS: 62 ()

PLANAR INDUCTOR POWER

689

693

This paper presents the design and measured results for micro-fabricated inductors suitable for use in high frequency (> 10 MHz), low power (1-2 W) dc-dc converters. The design has focused on maximizing inductor efficiency for a given converter specification. Inductors in the range of 100 nH to 300 nH have been fabricated and tested. The small signal measurements show a relatively flat inductance profile, with a 10% drop in inductance at 30 MHz. Inductance vs. dc bias current measurements show less than 15% decrease in inductance at 500 mA current. The performance of the micro-inductors have also been compared to a. conventional wire-wound inductor in a 20 MHz de-de converter. The converter efficiency is shown to be approximately 4% lower when the micro-inductor is used compared to the when the wire-wound inductor is used. The peak efficiency of the micro-inductor in the converter is estimated to be approximately 93%.