Deeply-on-chip magnetics make agile PCUs and slash PCB footprint
New York-based fabless chip firm Ferric has teamed up with TSMC to put magnetic components on the metal layers of integrated circuits.
The first product of the collaboration, Fe1038D, has a 2.0 x 3.2mm flip-chip die (<400μm thick) that includes all magnetics and passives needed to deliver 3A at between 0.6V and 1.5V from 1.8V-2.5V, with efficiency peaking above >85%.These chips can also be ganged together to deliver up to 12A.Internal switching frequency, according to the firm, is programmable across 60 – 100MHz, and >10MHz regulation bandwidth is claimed for the technology.
Control is over PMBus 1.3 and the device includes dynamic voltage scaling, programmable soft start, programmable ramp rates, auto phase shedding, temperature monitoring and automated protections including under-voltage lock-out, over-current, over-voltage and temperature. “The Fe1038D multi-phase dc-dc buck converter with integrated inductors allows customers to implement designs with significantly smaller form factors,” according to Ferric CEO Noah Sturcken. “Ferric’s mobile, FPGA, and embedded solutions customers of the Fe1038D are creating their next generation products.”
Delivered in die form, the part can be integrated directly into the packaging of the load IC – i/o pitch is 180μm – and the intellectual property is also available for monolithic integration by TSMC into third party chips.
“Power converter designs are available in single-chip PVR [package integrated voltage regulator, see below] format for in-package integration and also available as licensable hard and soft circuit IP for MVR [monolithic integrated voltage regulator] implementations in TSMC N28 and N7. All necessary circuit sub-systems and interfaces with dedicated integration support for both circuit IP and inductors are offered,” according to Ferric, noting that the designs are still under development.
The thin-film magnetic core inductors can be integrated on top of the chip or interposer. “By integrating inductors with TSMC’s CMOS back-end-of-line, we enable on-package power conversion at any process node,” said Ferric, which claims 20A/mm2 current density for its topology, and near 100% utilisation factor.
Fe1038D samples are available and shipping.