| Summary: | The passive devices in state-of-the-art miniaturized switched-mode DC-DC
converters are generally integrated by means of on-chip and in-package methods.
Nevertheless, the quality is poor-to-moderate, thereby compromising the
power-efficiency. In this project, the miniaturization of the DC-DC converter is
achieved by realizing its passive devices as embedded devices that are printed within
a high-density 3D inkjet printed-circuit-board (PCB). A fourth-order stacked LC
filter is proposed, embodying passive components with small values—effectively at
no additional cost because they are embedded through 3D-printing. For the inductor
and capacitor, a high-Q solenoidal structure and the metal-insulator-metal planar
structure are respectively adopted.
The proposed filter is printed within the 3D-PCB with a compact 124 mm3
volume due to the stacked arrangement. The measured AC attenuation is 21.2 dB at
200 MHz. The filter is further verified by means of computer simulations of a
DC-DC buck converter. Simulation results of the converter employing the filter
show a low output voltage ripple at 146 mV and a high peak power-efficiency of
~78% at 200 MHz switching frequency with 150 mA load current.
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