Very High Frequency Integrated POL for Cpus
Very High Frequency Integrated POL for CPUs Dongbin Hou Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Electrical Engineering Fred C. Lee, Chair Qiang Li Rolando Burgos Daniel J. Stilwell Dwight D. Viehland March 23rd, 2017 Blacksburg, Virginia Keywords: Point-of-load converter, integrated voltage regulator, very high frequency, 3D integration, ultra-low profile inductor, magnetic characterizations, core loss measurement © 2017, Dongbin Hou Dongbin Hou Very High Frequency Integrated POL for CPUs Dongbin Hou Abstract Point-of-load (POL) converters are used extensively in IT products. Every piece of the integrated circuit (IC) is powered by a point-of-load (POL) converter, where the proximity of the power supply to the load is very critical in terms of transient performance and efficiency. A compact POL converter with high power density is desired because of current trends toward reducing the size and increasing functionalities of all forms of IT products and portable electronics. To improve the power density, a 3D integrated POL module has been successfully demonstrated at the Center for Power Electronic Systems (CPES) at Virginia Tech. While some challenges still need to be addressed, this research begins by improving the 3D integrated POL module with a reduced DCR for higher efficiency, the vertical module design for a smaller footprint occupation, and the hybrid core structure for non-linear inductance control. Moreover, as an important category of the POL converter, the voltage regulator (VR) serves an important role in powering processors in today’s electronics.
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