SBIR Phase II: Integrated DC-DC Converters Using Thin-film Magnetic Power Inductors

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop integrated DC-DC power converters using magnetic thin-film power inductors. Currently, microprocessors and systems-on-chip (SoCs) are powered with board level voltage regulators assembled from discrete components. As supply voltages have scaled for digital integrated circuits (ICs), this power delivery paradigm has become increasingly inefficient, as power is delivered through the resistance of the power delivery network (PDN) at low voltages and high currents. In a typical case where 100 W is delivered at 1 V, 10% of the total power delivered may be wasted in the resistance of the PDN. The objective of this project is to commercialize power converters utilizing inductors with precisely engineered laminations of high permeability magnetic material. This will enable a significant improvement in power converter current density and subsequently enable power supplies for microprocessors and systems-on-chip to be down-converted in the same package, or even on the same die. This new class of integrated voltage regulators (IVRs) will provide as much as a 20% reduction in total power consumption for digital ICs by reducing resistive losses and enabling improved power management techniques. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is a reduction in power consumption for all digital computing platforms, ranging from smartphones to data centers. The total energy savings potential for this new class of technology is estimated at 15 billion kWh within the United States alone; this is equivalent to roughly 10 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. This technology will also significantly reduce the physical footprint for digital ICs, enabling a significant reduction in form factor for all classes of computing platforms. Voltage regulators utilizing integrated magnetic thin-film inductors will have cost and performance advantages over the other voltage regulator products that are commercially available. Therefore this technology is expected to have a sizeable impact on the $10 billion worldwide voltage regulator market. Furthermore, the integration of magnetic materials with Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) technology will facilitate advances in other magnetic based systems, such as magnetic filters, sensors and imagers. Likewise, the experience gained from commercializing a magnetic material process module with CMOS technology will lower the technological barriers for other forms of heterogeneous integration.