Integrated switched inductor power converter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10244633-B2
Application number	US-201715844107-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 15, 2017
Priority date	Sep 11, 2012
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

A switched inductor DC-DC power converter chiplet includes a CMOS power switch, an LC filter, regulation circuitry, feedback control circuitry, and interface control circuitry integrated on a common substrate. The inductor for the LC filter can be formed on the same surface or on opposing surfaces of the substrate as the electrical terminations for the substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A switched inductor DC-DC power converter, comprising:
a CMOS power switch;
an LC filter electrically coupled to an output of the CMOS power switch, the LC filter comprising:
a thin-film inductor electrically coupled to the output of the CMOS power switch; and
an output capacitor electrically coupled to an output of the thin-film inductor;

regulation circuitry electrically coupled to an input of the CMOS power switch;
feedback control circuitry that regulates a switching frequency of the CMOS power switch; and
interface circuitry electrically coupled to an input of the control circuitry,
wherein the switched inductor DC-DC power converter is integrated on a common substrate; and
wherein the common substrate comprises a multilevel wiring network and the inductor is integrated on top of the multilevel wiring network.

2. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 1 , wherein the conductive winding comprises:
a first wire formed in a first integration plane disposed above the multilevel wiring network;
a second wire formed in a second integration plane disposed above the first integration plane; and
a conductive VIA formed between the first and second wires, the conductive VIA electrically connecting the first wire to the second wire.

3. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 1 , wherein the inductor comprises a planar magnetic core and a conductive winding, the conductive winding turned around the planar magnetic core in a generally spiral manner.

4. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 1 , wherein the inductor comprises a magnetic-clad inductor.

5. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 1 , wherein electrical terminations for the common substrate and the inductor are on a same surface of the common substrate.

6. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 1 , wherein electrical terminations for the common substrate and the inductor are on opposing surfaces of the common substrate and electrical power is communicated through the common substrate to the inductor with through-silicon VIAs.

7. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 1 , wherein the CMOS power switch comprises CMOS transistors with a gate length of 130 nm or less in a cascode configuration.

8. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 7 , wherein the CMOS transistors comprise thin-gate oxide transistors.

9. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 7 , wherein the CMOS power switch comprises an array of PMOS switches and an array of NMOS switches, wherein a first respective gate drive buffer is electrically coupled to each PMOS switch and a second respective gate drive buffer is electrically coupled to each NMOS switch.

10. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 9 , wherein each PMOS switch is in parallel electrically with the other PMOS switches and each NMOS switch is in parallel electrically with the other NMOS switches.

11. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 1 , wherein the CMOS transistors comprise n-type and p-type CMOS transistors for low-side and high-side switching of a half-bridge node, respectively.

12. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 1 , further comprising a two-directional digital serial interface to communicate information and control instructions to and from a load integrated circuit.

13. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 12 , further comprising a one-directional digital serial interface to receive a power state of the load integrated circuit.

14. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 1 , further comprising a two-directional digital serial interface to communicate an output power of the switched inductor DC-DC power converter to other switched inductor DC-DC power converters to form a group of switched inductor DC-DC power converters, the group of switched inductor DC-DC power converters configured to deliver a similar output power to a same load.

15. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 1 , further comprising a digital processing unit integrated on the common substrate.

16. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 15 , wherein the digital processing unit comprises a microprocessor or a graphics processor.

17. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of powertrain phases in parallel electrically with one another, each powertrain phase comprising a phase CMOS power switch and a phase thin-film inductor coupled to an output of the phase CMOS power switch, wherein an output of each phase thin-film inductor is electrically coupled to the output capacitor.

18. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 17 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to operate each powertrain phase in a phase-interleaved manner.

19. The switched inductor DC-DC power converter of claim 1 , wherein the common substrate includes separate supply voltage sense and ground reference sense terminations that allow the power converter to measure an output voltage at a load independently of a power delivery channel.

20. A system comprising:
a common substrate comprising:
a CMOS power switch;
an LC filter electrically coupled to an output of the CMOS power switch, the LC filter comprising:
a thin-film inductor electrically coupled to the output of the CMOS power switch; and
an output capacitor electrically coupled to an output of the thin-film inductor;

regulation circuitry electrically coupled to an input of the CMOS power switch;
feedback control circuitry that regulates a switching frequency of the CMOS power switch; and
interface circuitry electrically coupled to an input of the control circuitry; and

wherein the common substrate further comprises a multilevel wiring network and the inductor is integrated on top of the multilevel wiring network.

21. The system of claim 20 , further comprising an interposer comprising the thin-film inductor.

22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the interposer comprises an integrated passive device.

Assignees

• Ferric Inc

Inventors

• Sturcken Noah
• Jew David
• Meyer Joseph
• Davies Ryan
• Lekas Michael

Classifications

• H10W20/497

  Inductive arrangements or effects of, or between, wiring layers · CPC title

• H10W20/496

  Capacitor integral with wiring layers · CPC title

• Y10T29/4913

  Assembling to base an electrical component, e.g., capacitor, etc. · CPC title

• H02M3/158

  including plural semiconductor devices as final control devices for a single load · CPC title

• H05K1/0233

  Filters, inductors or a magnetic substance · CPC title