NEW AND IMPROVED FERRIMAGNETIC MATERIALS FOR HIGH FREQUENCY TRANSFORMERS AND INDUCTOR COILS

HIGH PREMEABILITY AND LOW POWER LOSS HEAD THE REQUIREMENTS LAID DOWN FOR A GOOD CORE MATERIAL FOR INDUCTANCE COILS AND TRANSFORMERS FOR THE APPLICATION IN HIGH EFFICIENCY POWER SUPPLY. RECENTLY FERRITE MATERIALS, SUCH AS NICKEL-ZINC-COBALT (NIZNCO) FERRITES HAVE BEEN USED FOR TRANSFORMER AND INDUCTOR CORES BECAUSE OF THEIR HIGH RESISTIVITIES AND CONSEQUENT LOWER EDDY CURRENT LOSSES. HOWEVER, THESE FERRITES STILL LACK THE HIGH PERMEABILITY NEEDED TO REDUCE ENERGY LOSSES AND IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF POWER SUPPLIES AT MEGAHERTZ FREQUENCIES. THE TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY IN THIS PROPOSAL IS TO IMPROVE THE PERMEABILITY VALUES AND REDUCE THE LOSSES OF NIZNCO FERRITES IN THE FREQUENCY RANGE OF 1-100 MHZ BY TAILORING THE MICROSTRUCTURE DURING SINTERING AND ADDING SMALL AMOUNTS OF IMPURITY ATOMS. THE PHASE I PROGRAM WILL ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF IMPROVING NIZNCO FERRITES BY ESTABLISHING THE TYPE AND AMOUNT OF SUBSTITUTION IONS NECESSARY TO IMPROVE PERMEABILITY, TO MONITOR THE FABRICATION PARAMETERS AND TO OPTIMIZE A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT SYSTEM FOR A PROTOTYPE FABRICATION PROCESS TO BE DEVELOPED IN THE PHASE II PROGRAM AND COMMERCIALIZED IN THE PHASE III PROGRAM.