Passive Component Technology Research Articles

DC–DC Converter Implementations Based on Piezoelectric Transformers

The drive to miniaturize power electronics motivates investigation into alternative passive component technologies such as piezoelectrics, which offer fundamentally higher power density and efficiency capabilities at small scales compared to magnetics. Piezoelectric transformers (PTs) have seen application in dc–dc converters, but these designs typically require additional magnetics for competitive efficiency. In this work, we systematically enumerate isolated and nonisolated dc–dc converter topologies and switching sequences capable of efficiently utilizing PTs as their only energy storage components. The proposed switching sequences maintain high-efficiency behaviors (e.g., zero voltage switching (ZVS), all-positive instantaneous power transfer, and minimal charge circulation) across wide voltage gain and load ranges. We present techniques for deriving these switching sequences’ ZVS regions, estimating PT efficiency, and solving for periodic steady state switching times; these offer insights for comparing and implementing design options. We then verify our analyses in a 180–500 V experimental prototype based on a commercially-available PT, which demonstrates significant efficiency gain through a proposed implementation.

Thick film hydrogen silsesquioxane planarization for passive component technology associated with electronic-photonic integrated circuits

Migrating electronic-photonic integrated circuits (EPICs) to higher data rates requires efficient electrical interfaces. This can be achieved with microwave technologies such as coplanar and microstrip transmission lines, but these can be difficult to apply in EPICs because of the complexity of the fabrication processes associated with monolithic integration. In this work, the authors report a novel method for planarizing a thick, low-κ film based on multiple-spins of layers of hydrogen silsesquioxane without a need for thermal curing. Films of total thicknesses of 5 and 6μm were planarized on a heavily doped InP substrate and used to realize coplanar waveguide transmission lines. The film shape is defined as an integral part of the fabrication process without any need for etching. A coplanar waveguide with a characteristic impedance of between 48 and 56Ω over the frequency range 10 MHz–67 GHz was demonstrated.

Fundamental Examination of Multiple Potential Passive Component Technologies for Future Power Electronics

Efficient and compact high-power high-frequency passive energy storage components are required for miniaturization of power converters and remain a challenging obstacle in power electronics. In this paper, multiple energy storage mechanisms are analyzed on an order-of-magnitude basis to identify potential alternatives for conventional passive components, especially magnetics, which have frequency-dependent power losses. The high energy density of mechanical storage methods provides an attractive alternative to the widely used LC resonance. Piezoelectric transduction is explored, and the performance of a piezoelectric resonator is compared to that of an LC resonator in terms of efficiency and power handling capabilities in a resonant switched-capacitor-type circuit. The analysis provides a basis for exploring potential passive energy storage component technologies and comparing their performance limits with those of electromagnetic passive components. The analysis shows that both electromagnetic and mechanical resonance, in the ideal scenarios, can offer much better performance than do passive component technologies in use today. A prototype resonator is built with off-the-shelf C0G capacitors to confirm the low loss and high power predicted by the model. The resulting resonator has an effective resistance of 2.76 $\text{m}{\Omega }$ at 2.70 MHz in 1 ${\text{cm}^{3}}$ volume and can handle 7.42 kW within the rated temperature.

Unique Silicon Passive Component Technology for Medical implants combining highly flexible integration with outstanding performances.

Abstract Many implantable medical devices such as pacemakers, cochlear implants and neurostimulation devices have been developed and tremendously improved in electrical power consumption, battery lifetime, functionality, system delivery, and wireless communication but there is still a lot of room for improvement and these devices are still facing challenges with size shrinkage and reliability. Many efforts have been engaged to miniaturize and to facilitate the implantation of the device in order to reduce the impact of the surgery. IPDiA's technology is strongly contributing to this progress by providing passive components such as capacitor arrays or RC networks, with a high contribution to miniaturization, a very low profile, extremely low leakage and outstanding reliability. In this paper, the enablers such as design flexibility, co-integration, low leakage, extended life time will be presented and illustrated by several examples of solutions. Firstly, the recent progress in the capacitor technology development will be presented, secondly the impact of the component technology on the overall system size and performances through advanced packaging solutions will be highlighted together with other key differentiators and finally some of the applications where this technology is essential will be presented.

Design methodology of an interleaved buck converter for onboard automotive application, multi‐objective optimisation under multi‐physic constraints

This study presents a design methodology applied to design and improve the efficiency of interleaved Buck converters. This methodology is based on a multi-physic and multi-objective optimisation to ensure well integration of the converters. Thereto, the number of cells is used as a key parameter to formalise this approach with analytical models established to offer compromise needed between the computation time and results accuracy. The proposed methodology is applied to an interleaved buck converter for automotive application to achieve the requirements as electrical, volume, efficiency and thermal constraints. It allows to find the optimal converter architecture by searching the minimum volume integration and maximum efficiency by depicting the optimal number of cells and adequate active and passive component technologies selected from a manufacturer database. This methodology is drawn up to remove the risk of feasibility on the converter configuration earlier during the design process considering multi-physic constraints.

Evolving and Emerging Applications of Power Electronics in Systems

The continuing trend toward greater electrification and control of functions in consumer, commercial, industrial, transportation, and even medical applications promises a dynamic and increasingly important role for power electronics. The growing penetration of power electronics in energy systems is driven by new materials such as SiC and GaN, as well as new packaging technologies which allow the physical integration of electronics with powered and controlled devices such as motors. Advances in very high-frequency conversion led by the application of SiC and GaN devices promises to make converter-on-a-chip technology possible, but concurrent advances in passive component technology are necessary. The principal challenge to application penetration remains cost reduction.

(Invited) Passive Component Technologies for Advanced Power Conversion Enabled by Wide-Band-Gap Power Devices

Modern power electronics typically operate with switching frequencies in the tens of kilohertz to a few megahertz. SiC and GaN power switches promise to enable increasing these frequencies by an order of magnitude or more. Doing so would allow reducing the energy storage requirements for passive components, particularly transformers and inductors, which typically take up the largest portion of the volume of a power converter, and which are also responsible for much of the power loss, cost, and design difficulty in the converter. In principle, a smaller energy storage requirement should make these components smaller and lower in loss and cost. However, material, fabrication, and design constraints make it hard to achieve such improvements. These issues are reviewed and new results on design optimization of low profile air-core inductors and loss characterization of high-performance magnetic materials for 10 to 100 MHz are presented.

Passive Component Technologies for Advanced Power Conversion Enabled by Wide-Band-Gap Power Devices

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Embedded passive component technology masterclass well received

Embedded passive component technology masterclass well received

Integrated Passive Component Technology [Book Review

Integrated Passive Component Technology [Book Review

Integrated Passive Component Technology

Integrated Passive Component Technology

High-quality inkjet-printed multilevel interconnects and inductive components on plastic for ultra-low-cost RFID applications

AbstractIn recent years, there has been tremendous interest in all-printed electronics as a means of achieving ultra-low-cost electronic circuits with uses in displays and disposable electronics applications such as RFID tags. While there have been a few demonstrations of printed organic transistors to date, there has been little work on the associated passive component and interconnection technologies required to enable the development of all-printed RFID circuits. In particular, low-resistance conductors are crucial to achieve the high-Q inductors necessary for RFID. Here, we demonstrate inkjetted nanoparticle-Au conductors on plastic with sheet resistances as low as 0.03 ohms/square. We describe the optimization of the jetting parameters, and their impact on final film morphology and electrical properties. We also demonstrate a bridging technology based on an inkjetted polyimide interlevel dielectric. Using this process, we demonstrate multilevel interconnect and passive component structures including conductor patterns, crossover bridges, and tapped planar spiral inductors. Together, these represent an important step towards the realization of all-printed RFID.

Applications for GaAs and silicon integrated circuits in next generation wireless communication systems

Emerging applications for portable wireless voice and data communications systems are requiring increased data rates and functionality. Meeting cost and performance goals requires careful attention to system level design and partitioning such that appropriate technologies are employed in cost-effective solutions. New circuit designs and techniques are required to meet size, power, and regulatory restrictions. This provides an exciting opportunity for GaAs, silicon, and passive component technologies. This review paper will discuss factors influencing the choice of which technology is best suited to a particular application and present several system level architectures of radio-based communication systems. The paper will illustrate appropriate applications of GaAs, silicon, and passive integrated circuit technologies. A summary is given that highlights the relative strengths and weaknesses of each technology to date. >

The passive partners

The advance of passive-component technology has been overshadowed by the semiconductor revolution. However, the semiconductor challenge for better performance has not gone unanswered, and passive components have shrunk and become more reliable.