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Description
With increasing demand for System on Chip (SoC) and System in Package (SiP) design in computer and communication technologies, integrated inductor which is an essential passive component has been widely used in numerous integrated circuits (ICs) such as in voltage regulators and RF circuits. In this work, soft ferromagnetic core material, amorphous Co-Zr-Ta-B, was incorporated into on-chip and in-package inductors in order to scale down inductors and improve inductors performance in both inductance density and quality factor. With two layers of 500 nm Co-Zr-Ta-B films a 3.5X increase in inductance and a 3.9X increase in quality factor over inductors without magnetic films were measured at frequencies as high as 1 GHz. By laminating technology, up to 9.1X increase in inductance and more than 5X increase in quality factor (Q) were obtained from stripline inductors incorporated with 50 nm by 10 laminated films with a peak Q at 300 MHz. It was also demonstrated that this peak Q can be pushed towards high frequency as far as 1GHz by a combination of patterning magnetic films into fine bars and laminations. The role of magnetic vias in magnetic flux and eddy current control was investigated by both simulation and experiment using different patterning techniques and by altering the magnetic via width. Finger-shaped magnetic vias were designed and integrated into on-chip RF inductors improving the frequency of peak quality factor from 400 MHz to 800 MHz without sacrificing inductance enhancement. Eddy current and magnetic flux density in different areas of magnetic vias were analyzed by HFSS 3D EM simulation. With optimized magnetic vias, high frequency response of up to 2 GHz was achieved. Furthermore, the effect of applied magnetic field on on-chip inductors was investigated for high power applications. It was observed that as applied magnetic field along the hard axis (HA) increases, inductance maintains similar value initially at low fields, but decreases at larger fields until the magnetic films become saturated. The high frequency quality factor showed an opposite trend which is correlated to the reduction of ferromagnetic resonant absorption in the magnetic film. In addition, experiments showed that this field-dependent inductance change varied with different patterned magnetic film structures, including bars/slots and fingers structures. Magnetic properties of Co-Zr-Ta-B films on standard organic package substrates including ABF and polyimide were also characterized. Effects of substrate roughness and stress were analyzed and simulated which provide strategies for integrating Co-Zr-Ta-B into package inductors and improving inductors performance. Stripline and spiral inductors with Co-Zr-Ta-B films were fabricated on both ABF and polyimide substrates. Maximum 90% inductance increase in hundreds MHz frequency range were achieved in stripline inductors which are suitable for power delivery applications. Spiral inductors with Co-Zr-Ta-B films showed 18% inductance increase with quality factor of 4 at frequency up to 3 GHz.
ContributorsWu, Hao (Author) / Yu, Hongbin (Thesis advisor) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Cao, Yu (Committee member) / Chickamenahalli, Shamala (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Isolated DC/DC converters are used to provide electrical isolation between two supply domain systems. A fully integrated isolated DC/DC converter having no board-level components and fabricated using standard integrated circuits (IC) process is highly desirable in order to increase the system reliability and reduce costs. The isolation between the low-voltage side and high-voltage side of the converter is realized by a transformer that transfers energy while blocking the DC loop. The resonant mode power oscillator is used to enable high efficiency power transfer. The on-chip transformer is expected to have high coil inductance, high quality factors and high coupling coefficient to reduce the loss in the oscillation. The performance of a transformer is highly dependent on the vertical structure, horizontal geometry and other indispensable structures that make it compatible with the IC process such as metal fills and patterned ground shield (PGS). With the help of three-dimensional (3-D) electro-magnetic (EM) simulation software, the 3-D transformer model is simulated and the simulation result is got with high accuracy.
In this thesis an on-chip transformer for a fully integrated DC/DC converter using standard IC process is developed. Different types of transformers are modeled and simulated in HFSS. The performances are compared to select the optimum design. The effects of the additional structures including PGS and metal fills are also simulated. The transformer is tested with a network analyzer and the testing results show a good consistency with the simulation results when taking the chip traces, printed circuit board (PCB) traces, bond wires and SMA connectors into account.
In this thesis an on-chip transformer for a fully integrated DC/DC converter using standard IC process is developed. Different types of transformers are modeled and simulated in HFSS. The performances are compared to select the optimum design. The effects of the additional structures including PGS and metal fills are also simulated. The transformer is tested with a network analyzer and the testing results show a good consistency with the simulation results when taking the chip traces, printed circuit board (PCB) traces, bond wires and SMA connectors into account.
ContributorsZhao, Yao (Author) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Thesis advisor) / Kiaei, Sayfe (Committee member) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014