Multi-terminal inductors for voltage regulators

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10972001-B2
Application number	US-201816102203-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 13, 2018
Priority date	Aug 13, 2018
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

Some embodiments include apparatuses having a switching circuit included in a buck converter; an output node; an inductor including a first portion having a first terminal coupled to the switching circuit, a second portion having a second terminal coupled to the output node, and a third terminal between the first and second portions; and a capacitor coupled to the second terminal, the second terminal to couple to a first additional capacitor, and the third terminal to couple to a second additional capacitor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a switching circuit included in a buck converter;
an output node;
an inductor including a first portion having a first terminal coupled to the switching circuit, a second portion having a second terminal coupled to the output node, and a third terminal between the first portion and the second portion, the first portion directly coupled to the second portion at a contact location, and the third terminal directly coupled to the contact location without going through a turn of the inductor; and
a capacitor coupled to the second terminal, the second terminal to couple to a first additional capacitor, and the third terminal to directly couple to a first plate of a second additional capacitor, the second additional capacitor including a second plate directly coupled to a ground node wherein the capacitor is located on an integrated circuit die, and the first additional capacitor and the second additional capacitor are located outside the integrated circuit die.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the inductor has a first resistance, the second portion of the inductor has a second resistance, and the first resistance is greater than the second resistance.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the integrated circuit die is located on a package substrate, and the first and second additional capacitors are located on the package substrate.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the inductor further includes a fourth terminal between the first terminal and the second terminal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the inductor includes turns in a spiral pattern.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the majority of the turns has a first resistance, the minority of the turns has a second resistance, and the first resistance is greater than the second resistance.

7. An apparatus comprising:
a switching circuit included in a buck converter;
an output node;
an inductor including a first portion having a first terminal coupled to the switching circuit, a second portion having a second terminal coupled to the output node, and a third terminal between the first portion and the second portion, the first portion directly coupled to the second portion at a contact location, and the third terminal directly coupled to the contact location without going through a turn of the inductor; and
a capacitor coupled to the second terminal, the second terminal to couple to a first additional capacitor, and the third terminal to directly couple to a first plate of a second additional capacitor, the second additional capacitor including a second plate directly coupled to a ground node, wherein the inductor includes a combination of segments, the combination of segments including a first group of segments parallel to a substrate and a second group of segments perpendicular to the substrate, the first portion of the inductor includes a majority of the combination of segments; and
the second portion of the inductor includes a minority of the combination of segments, and wherein, the first group of segments includes a first segment parallel to the substrate and a second segment parallel to the substrate;
the first segment is located over the substrate; and
the second segment is located over the first segment, such that the first segment is between the second segment and the substrate.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the majority of the combination of segments has a first resistance, the minority of the combination of segments has a second resistance, and the first resistance is greater than the second resistance.

9. An apparatus comprising:
a switching circuit included in a buck converter;
an output node;
an inductor including a first portion having a first terminal coupled to the switching circuit, a second portion having a second terminal coupled to the output node, and a third terminal between the first portion and the second portion, the first portion directly coupled to the second portion at a contact location, and the third terminal directly coupled to the contact location without going through a turn of the inductor; and
a capacitor coupled to the second terminal, the second terminal to couple to a first additional capacitor, and the third terminal to directly couple to a first plate of a second additional capacitor, the second additional capacitor including a second plate directly coupled to a ground node wherein the inductor has turns, and the first portion of the inductor includes a majority of the turns, wherein the inductor includes a magnetic core, and turns wrapped around the magnetic core such that the turns directly contact the magnetic core.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the majority of the turns has a first resistance, the minority of the turns has a second resistance, and the first resistance is greater than the second resistance.

11. An apparatus comprising:
a switching circuit included in a buck converter;
an output node;
an inductor including a first portion having a first terminal coupled to the switching circuit, a second portion having a second terminal coupled to the output node, and a third terminal between the first portion and the second portion, the first portion directly coupled to the second portion at a contact location, and the third terminal directly coupled to the contact location without going through a turn of the inductor; and
a capacitor coupled to the second terminal, the second terminal to couple to a first additional capacitor, and the third terminal to directly couple to a first plate of a second additional capacitor, the second additional capacitor including a second plate directly coupled to a ground node, wherein the inductor includes:
a magnetic material formed over a semiconductor substrate;
a conductive material formed over at least a portion of the magnetic material;
a first conductive segment formed over the conductive material and having a length perpendicular to the semiconductor substrate, the first conductive segment coupled to the switching circuit;
a second conductive segment formed over the conductive material and having a length perpendicular to the semiconductor substrate; and
a third conductive segment formed over the conductive material and having a length perpendicular to the semiconductor substrate, wherein the third conductive segment is between the first conductive segment and the second conductive segment and coupled to the third terminal.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the conductive material is formed on a single layer over the semiconductor substrate.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein a portion of the magnetic material is between the conductive material and the substrate.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein, the conductive material is between the first conductive segment and the portion of the magnetic material, the conductive material is between the second conductive segment and the portion of the magnetic material, and t conductive material is between the third conductive segment and the portion of the magnetic material.

15. An apparatus comprising:
a switching circuit included in a buck converter;
an output node;
an inductor including a first portion having a first terminal coupled to the switching circuit, a second portion having a second terminal coupled to the output node, and a third terminal between the first portion and the second portion, the first portion directly coupled to the second portion at a contact location, and the third terminal directly coupled to the contact location without going through a turn of the inductor; and
a capacitor coupled

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Shekhar Sameer
• Jain Amit K
• Vunnam Ravi Sankar

Classifications

• H10W72/00

  Interconnections or connectors in packages · CPC title

• H10W44/501

  Inductive arrangements (H10W44/20 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02M3/158 Primary

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

• H10W44/248

  for antennas · CPC title

• H10W90/00

  Package configurations · CPC title