A 20-MHz 1.8-W DC-DC converter with parallel microinductors and improved light-load efficiency

Ciaran Feeney; Ningning Wang; Sean Cian O Mathuna; Maeve Duffy

doi:10.1109/TPEL.2014.2309393

A 20-MHz 1.8-W DC-DC converter with parallel microinductors and improved light-load efficiency

Ciaran Feeney
, Ningning Wang
, Sean Cian O Mathuna
, Maeve Duffy

Tyndall IPES (Integrated Power)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show that distributing microinductors in parallel can reduce light-load losses, while also maintaining the same overall footprint area and the same effective inductance as a single microinductor. The performance of parallel microinductors is compared in a number of configurations to demonstrate which configuration provides the best overall performance in terms of circuit size, conversion efficiency, and power handling. Light-load saving techniques are implemented demonstrating the potential of parallel inductors to improve efficiency at light-load. Measured and modeled results of efficiency versus load are presented for the prototype DC-DC converters explored, and a peak efficiency of 74% is predicted for a 1.8 W, 20-MHz DC-DC converter including microinductors.

Original language	English
Article number	6754177
Pages (from-to)	771-779
Number of pages	9
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
Volume	30
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TPEL.2014.2309393
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2015

Keywords

DC-DC converters
inductors-on-silicon
light-load efficiency
microfabricated
microinductor
PFM
thin-film inductors

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10.1109/TPEL.2014.2309393

Cite this

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title = "A 20-MHz 1.8-W DC-DC converter with parallel microinductors and improved light-load efficiency",

abstract = "The purpose of this paper is to show that distributing microinductors in parallel can reduce light-load losses, while also maintaining the same overall footprint area and the same effective inductance as a single microinductor. The performance of parallel microinductors is compared in a number of configurations to demonstrate which configuration provides the best overall performance in terms of circuit size, conversion efficiency, and power handling. Light-load saving techniques are implemented demonstrating the potential of parallel inductors to improve efficiency at light-load. Measured and modeled results of efficiency versus load are presented for the prototype DC-DC converters explored, and a peak efficiency of 74\% is predicted for a 1.8 W, 20-MHz DC-DC converter including microinductors.",

keywords = "DC-DC converters, inductors-on-silicon, light-load efficiency, microfabricated, microinductor, PFM, thin-film inductors",

author = "Ciaran Feeney and Ningning Wang and \{O Mathuna\}, \{Sean Cian\} and Maeve Duffy",

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AB - The purpose of this paper is to show that distributing microinductors in parallel can reduce light-load losses, while also maintaining the same overall footprint area and the same effective inductance as a single microinductor. The performance of parallel microinductors is compared in a number of configurations to demonstrate which configuration provides the best overall performance in terms of circuit size, conversion efficiency, and power handling. Light-load saving techniques are implemented demonstrating the potential of parallel inductors to improve efficiency at light-load. Measured and modeled results of efficiency versus load are presented for the prototype DC-DC converters explored, and a peak efficiency of 74% is predicted for a 1.8 W, 20-MHz DC-DC converter including microinductors.

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A 20-MHz 1.8-W DC-DC converter with parallel microinductors and improved light-load efficiency

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