Abstract
The realization of high-performance, small-footprint, on-chip inductors remains a challenge in radio-frequency and power microelectronics, where they perform vital energy transduction in filters and power converters. Modern planar inductors consist of metallic spirals that consume significant chip area, resulting in low inductance densities. We present a novel method for magnetic energy transduction that utilizes ferromagnetic islands (FIs) on the surface of a 3D time-reversal-invariant topological insulator (TI) to produce paradigmatically different inductors. Depending on the chemical potential, the FIs induce either an anomalous or quantum anomalous Hall effect in the topological surface states. These Hall effects direct current around the FIs, concentrating magnetic flux and producing a highly inductive device. Using a novel self-consistent simulation that couples AC non-equilibrium Green functions to fully electrodynamic solutions of Maxwell’s equations, we demonstrate excellent inductance densities up to terahertz frequencies, thus harnessing the unique properties of topological materials for practical device applications.
Highlights
The realization of high-performance, small-footprint, on-chip inductors remains a challenge in radio-frequency and power microelectronics, where they perform vital energy transduction in filters and power converters
topological insulator (TI) have a bulk electronic band gap, but the nontrivial topology of their band structures results in gapless conducting two-dimensional Dirac fermions on their surface[25,26,27], Using the unconventional physics enabled by the Dirac surface states such as the anomalous Hall effect (AHE)[28, 29], and the quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE)[30, 31], we present a pragmatically different geometry for magnetic energy transduction that does not rely on the conventional method of physically spiraling a conductor
When an electric field is applied in a Chern insulating system while the chemical potential lies within the magnetic gap, charge is pumped perpendicular to the field by the QAHE with a quantized Hall conductivity σxy = νocc.e2/h, where νocc. is the sum of the Chern numbers of all occupied bands, e is the electron charge, and h is Planck’s constant[36, 37]
Summary
The realization of high-performance, small-footprint, on-chip inductors remains a challenge in radio-frequency and power microelectronics, where they perform vital energy transduction in filters and power converters. Various solutions have been proffered to mitigate this issue from the incorporation of magnetic NixFe1−x yokes to enhance the magnetic field through the core[4,5,6], to the substitution of graphene[7,8,9], or carbon nanotubes[10] for the conducting material to increase the current flow within the coils These solutions, are limited by their operating frequency, as is the case for magnetic yokes in copper inductors[4], or by their fabrication reliability and low inductance density, for the carbon-based designs. We theoretically investigate the performance afforded by our topological inductor design by utilizing a novel hybrid quantum transport and electrodynamics simulation that captures the dynamic fields that enable flux linking
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