Fabrication technology, based on MEMS processes, for constructing components for use in switched-mode power supplies are developed and presented. Capacitors, magnetic cores, and inductors based on sacrificial multilayer electroplating are designed, fabricated, and characterized. Characterization of the produced inductors' core losses at high frequency and high flux is presented, confirming the aptness of the featured microfabrication processes for reducing eddy current losses in magnetic cores. As well, the demonstration of the same inductors in DC/DC converters at high switching frequencies, up to 6 MHz, is presented. Initial work addressing the top-down development of a fully-integrated DC/DC converter is presented. As well, the comprehensive advancement of the central process - sacrificial multilayer electroplating - is presented, including the development of a second-generation automated multilayer electroplating system. The advanced sacrificial multilayer plating process is applied to produce microfabricated capacitors, which achieved in excess of 1.5 nF/mm² capacitance density, The fabrication of highly-laminated magnetic cores and power inductors based on sacrificial multilayer electroplating is presented, along with the design and development of a system for characterizing inductor behavior at high-frequency, high-flux conditions. The design and operation of both buck and boost DC/DC converters, switching at up to 6 MHz, built around these highly-laminated-core inductors are presented.

This thesis reports on a new implementation of high quality factor (Q) copper (Cu) inductors on CMOS-grade (10-20ohm.cm) silicon (Si) substrates using a fully CMOS-compatible process. A low-temperature (less than300C) fabrication sequence is employed to reduce the loss of Si wafers at RF frequencies by trenching the Si substrate. The high aspect-ratio (30:1) trenches are subsequently bridged over or refilled with a low-loss material to close the open areas and to create a rigid low-loss island (Trenched Si Island) on which the inductors can be fabricated. The method reported here does not require air suspension of the inductors, resulting in mechanically-robust structures that are compatible with any packaging technology. The metal loss of inductors is reduced by electroplating thick (~20m) Cu layer. Fabricated inductors are characterized and modeled from S-parameter measurement. Measurement results are in good agreement with SONNET electromagnetic simulations. A one-turn 0.8nH Cu inductor fabricated on a Trenched Silicon Island (TSI) exhibits high Q of 71 at 8.75 GHz. Whereas, the identical inductor fabricated on a 20um thick silicon dioxide (SiO2) coated standard Si substrate has a maximum Q of 41 at 1.95GHz. Comparing the Q of inductors on TSI with that of other micromachined Si substrates reveals the significant effect of trenching the Si in reduction of the substrate loss. This thesis outlines the design, fabrication, characterization and modeling of spiral type Cu inductors on the TSIs.

An impedance-based core loss measurement technique for power ferrites, the modeling and analysis of mechanisms of high-frequency losses, and design methodology for optimization for high-frequency magnetics are presented. The high-frequency losses of ferrite materials are characterized employing a large-signal impedance measurement technique. The impedance analyzer controlled through an IEEE-488 interface, measures the impedance of the inductor under test under large signal excitation via a power amplifier. The core loss is a form of a parallel resistance is derived from measured impedance characteristics. A wideband impedance probe, enables core loss characterization up to 100 MHz. A comprehensive analysis of all major loss mechanisms in ferrites is presented. A new form of residual losses due to a magnetoelectric effect is postulated to account for losses at high frequencies. Two models of losses in ferrites are proposed, one with emphasis on analysis of loss mechanisms, and the other with an emphasis on the design of high-frequency magnetic components. Both models include the important effect of static bias field, which is the case in many power electronics applications. Magnetic losses due to magnetostriction are measured. Dependence of magnetoelastic resonances on the magnetic bias. core material, core shape and size is studied. The influence of diffusion after-effect on core loss under time-varying bias field is investigated. Thermal stability of high-frequency magnetics is studied. A verification of one- and two- dimensional models of winding losses for solid and litz wire is performed. The optimum design method for high-frequency power transformers and inductors is proposed. / PhD

This dissertation focuses on high-performance LC-tank CMOS VCO design at 2 GHz. The high-Q inductors are realized using wiring metal lines in advanced packages. Those inductors are used in the resonator of the VCO to achieve low phase noise, low power consumption, and a wide frequency tuning range. In this dissertation, a fine-pitch ball-grid array (FBGA) package, a multichip module (MCM)-L package, and a wafer-level package (WLP) are incorporated to realize the high-Q inductor. The Q-factors of inductors embedded in packages are compared to those of inductors monolithically integrated on Si and GaAs substrates. All the inductors are modeled with a physical, simple, equivalent two-port model for the VCO design as well as for phase noise analysis. The losses in an LC-tank are analyzed from the phase noise perspective. For the implementation of VCOs, the effects of the interconnection between the embedded inductor and the VCO circuit are investigated. The VCO using the on-chip inductors is designed as a reference. The performance of VCOs using the embedded inductor in a FBGA and a WLP is compared with that of a VCO using the on-chip inductor. The VCO design is optimized from the high-Q perspective to enhance performance. Through this optimization, less phase noise, lower power consumption, and a wider frequency tuning range are obtained simultaneously.

The use of insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)-based power converters is increasing exponentially. This is due to high performance of these devices in terms of efficiency and switching speed. However, due to the switching action, high frequency electromagnetic interference (EMI) noises are generated. Design of a power converter with reduced EMI noise level is one of the primary objectives of this research. The first part of the work focuses on designing common-mode (CM) filters, which can be integrated with differential-mode (DM) filters for three-phase pulse-width modulation (PWM) rectifier-based motor drives. This work explores the filter design based on the CM equivalent circuit of the drive system. Guidelines are provided for selection of the filter components. Different variants of the filter topology are evaluated to establish the effectiveness of the proposed topology. Analytical results based on Bode plot of the transfer functions are presented, which suggest effective EMI reduction. Experimental results based on EMI measurement on the grid side and CM current measurement on the motor side are presented. These results validate the effectiveness of the filter. In the second part of the work, it is shown that inclusion of CM filters into DM filters results in resonance oscillations in the CM circuit. An active damping strategy is proposed to damp the oscillations in both line-to-line and line-to-ground ac voltages and currents. An approach based on pole placement by state feedback is used to actively damp both the DM and CM filter oscillations. Analytical expressions for state-feedback controller gains are derived for both continuous-and discrete-time models of the filter. Trade-off in selection of the active damping gain on the lower-order grid current harmonics is analysed using a weighted admittance function method. In the third part of the work, single-phase grid-connected power converters are considered. An integrated CM filter with DM LCL filter is proposed. The work explores the suitability of PWM methods for single-phase and parallel single-phase grid-connected power converters. It is found that bipolar PWM and unipolar PWM with 180◦interleaving angle are suitable for single-phase and parallel single-phase power converters, respectively. The proposed configuration along with the PWM methods reduces the CM voltage, CM current, and EMI noise level effectively. It is also shown that the suggested circuit is insensitive to nonidealities of the power converter such as dead-time mismatch, mismatch in converter-side inductors, unequal turn on and turn off of the switches, and propagation delays. In the fourth part of the work, the inter-phase inductor in parallel interleaved power converters is integrated with LCL filter boost inductor. Different variant designs are presented and compared with the proposed structure. It is shown that the proposed structure makes use of standard core geometries and consumes lesser core material as well as copper wire. Hence, it reduces the overall size and cost of the power converter. In the present work, a 10kVA three-phase back-to-back connected with input LCL filter and output dv/dt filter, a 5kVA single-phase grid-connected power converter with LCL filter, and a 7.5kVA parallel single-phase grid-connected power converter with LCL filter are fabricated in the laboratory to evaluate and validate the proposed methods. The experimental results validate the proposed methods that result in significant EMI performance improvement of grid-connected power converters.

Cette thèse s'intéresse au transformateur de puissance qui constitue l'élément central de toute alimentation à découpage. La recherche s'articule selon deux axes: l'analyse des champs et le calcul des pertes cuivre d'une part, et la modélisation par schéma équivalent (en vue de réaliser des simulations électriques du convertisseur) d'autre part.<p><p>Selon le premier axe de recherche, l'idée est d'utiliser un logiciel de simulation de champs électromagnétiques par éléments finis pour analyser les champs en deux et en trois dimensions dans le transformateur. Outre une compréhension globale de la répartition des champs, on cherche à analyser finement les pertes cuivre générées dans les enroulements.<p><p>Aux fréquences utilisées dans les alimentations actuelles (typiquement quelques centaines de kilohertz), la densité de courant se répartit en effet de manière non uniforme dans les conducteurs suite aux effets quasi statiques (effet pelliculaire et effet de proximité). Les pertes cuivre doivent donc être calculées avec des outils spécifiques qui en tiennent compte. Or les modèles analytiques classiquement utilisés dans ce but (formules de Dowell et apparentées) reposent sur une analyse unidimensionnelle du transformateur, suivant une hypothèse dont la portée est mal connue et mise en cause par plusieurs auteurs.<p><p>Grâce aux simulations par éléments finis, la thèse dresse un inventaire inédit des effets quasi¬statiques 2D et 3D dans les enroulements. Les différents effets sont expliqués physiquement. La fiabilité des méthodes 1D est analysée et l'erreur commise par celles ci est quantifiée suivant le type d'enroulement et la fréquence. Trois méthodes alternatives de calcul des pertes en deux dimensions sont également analysées et critiquées.<p><p>Pour un type précis d'enroulement (une couche de ruban entre une valeur nulle et une valeur maximale de la force magnétomotrice), une "formule semi empirique" est encore développée. Celle-¬ci rassemble en une seule expression un grand nombre de simulations couvrant toutes les situations géométriques envisageables pour le type d'enroulement considéré. On crée ainsi un outil sans équivalent actuellement, qui allie la rapidité des méthodes 1D à la précision des simulations 2D. La formule semi empirique offre de nombreux avantages pour les concepteurs, dont une forme analytique particulière et la possibilité de réaliser des études paramétriques.<p><p>D'autre part, la thèse montre également que le "facteur de remplissage", notion présente dans la plupart des formules unidimensionnelles de calcul des pertes cuivre, résulte d'une erreur dans l'article de base de Dowell et se révèle donc sans fondement théorique. Ce facteur garde néanmoins une utilité pratique par le fait qu'il reproduit fortuitement certains effets 2D.<p><p>Selon le second axe de recherche, la modélisation, divers schémas équivalents sont analysés. Compte tenu du fait que les transformateurs utilisés dans les alimentations à découpage comprennent généralement plusieurs sorties et voient des formes d'onde fortement chargées en harmoniques, deux types de schémas particuliers sont retenus: le schéma "Coupled Choke Secondaries" (schéma CCS) et les schémas du Laboratoire d'Electrotechnique de Grenoble (schémas LEG). Le schéma CCS est validé sur un transformateur réel et implémenté dans une application conviviale.<p> / Doctorat en sciences appliquées / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished