INTEGRATED POWER ELECTRONICS

At the end of the course the student will be able to understand the operation and main characteristics of fundamental integrated power electronic converters and architectures made in silicon. He/she will also be able to derive models and use them both for performance evaluation and for the design of the circuit itself. The student will also be able to discern which construction characteristics (process or design) influence the performance of the devices that will be treated in the course and will acquire skills that will allow him/her to analyze fundamental manufacturing steps for the creation of power management circuits in integrated technology.

1. Knowledge and understanding: the student will be able to understand the construction methods and operating principles of integrated power management systems (AC-DC and DC-DC converters with inductors and/or switched capacitors, linear DC-DC converters – LDO and battery chargers / power-path architectures) and will know the main features of BCD silicon technology and the related devices.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: the student will be able to both derive the operating models of semiconductor converters and linearize these models when the circuit works in periodic steady state, as is the case with switched converters. It will also be able to simulate these devices through tools typically used in a corporate environment.

3. Making judgments: the student will be able to evaluate, in full autonomy, whether any devices satisfy the requirements for the applications being worked on and make the necessary choices in order to adapt the device to the application itself.

4. Communication and learning skills: Upon completion of the course it is expected that the student will acquire the ability to convey the knowledge acquired to his interlocutors in a clear and complete way and will also be able to rework the knowledge to extend it to situations not explicitly treated, while also being able to learn independently.

Teaching is carried out through frontal lessons, laboratory activities and exercises. Approximately half of the lessons are dedicated to simulator exercises conducted in person.

If the course is taught in mixed or distance mode, the necessary changes may be introduced with respect to what was previously stated, in order to comply with the program provided and reported in the syllabus.

Attendance is strongly recommended.

• 1.   Introduction to contents, basics and main metrics for integrated power electronics;
• 2.   Inductive DC-DC converters: introduction and basics, general implementation topics, AC modelling and control strategies (voltage and current mode), current sensing and powertrain related circuits and design considerations;
• 3.   Capacitive DC-DC converters: introduction and basics, main topologies, modelling and control strategies;
• 4. The BCD technology: basic and advanced topics, Latchup/ESD, layout related considerations, fabrication, back-end and external interfaces (passives/PCB/packages);
• 5.   Linear regulators: introduction and basics, design and compensation techniques;
• 6.   Power Management ICs ancillaries: further useful topologies and architectures;
• 7.   C-DC rectifiers: main topologies and advanced topics;
• 8.   Charger and Power-Paths: linear / switching architectures and design strategies.

• 1.      Fundamentals of Power Electronics, 3^rd edition (Erickson, Maksimovic)
• 2.      Switching Power Supplies A – Z, 2^nd edition (Maniktala)
• 3.      A New Small-Signal Model for Current-Mode Control, PhD Thesis (Ridley)
• 4.      High-Performance Integrated Charge Pumps (Ballo, Grasso, Palumbo)
• 5.      Analog IC Design with Low-Dropout Regulators, 2^nd edition (Rincon-Mora)
• 6.      Power Management Techniques for Integrated Circuit Design (Chen)

Learning is verified through a final exam. It consists of a presentation in slides of a topic of the course and an oral part. The presentation, preliminary to the oral part, consists of organizing a slideshow which reports basics and a detailed discussion of a topology presented during the course. The oral part consists of questions concerning all the program treated. The student has to demonstrate adequate understanding, mastery of the topics discussed and clarity of exposition. The presentation and the oral part are discussed both during the exam, the total assigned score considers the correctness of the procedure, the clarity of the presentation and the correctness of the calculations. Students who have accumulated more than two absences during the laboratory exercises will have a limitation on the final evaluation.

The verification of learning can also be carried out remotely, if the conditions require it.

To ensure equal opportunities and in compliance with current laws, interested students may request a personal interview in order to plan any compensatory and/or dispensatory measures based on educational objectives and specific needs. Students can also contact the CInAP (Centro per l’integrazione Attiva e Partecipata - Servizi per le Disabilità e/o i DSA) referring teacher within their department.

Compensation techniques for control of inductive DC-DC converters and comparison between voltage and current mode

Flavors of DMOS devices in BCD technology and their characteristics

Latchup issues and how to prevent them

Open-loop (comparator based) and closed loop current sensing in inductive DC-DC converters

Dead time control techniques in powertrain

Efficiency loss contributions in an inductive DC-DC converter

AC-DC rectifiers and how to make LS FETs behave as ideal diodes (ZVS)

Thermal monitoring/protection

Multi-loop control of battery charger / charging port input limiter architectures

Dickson charge pump, charge transfer mechanism and control strategies

Fibonacci charge pump, charge transfer mechanism and control strategies

Serial-Parallel charge pump, charge transfer mechanism and control strategies

Latched charge pump, topology and design methodology

Comparison among typical charge transfer devices

Design an interleaved charge pump

PMOS-based LDO scheme and compensation

NMOS-based LDO scheme and compensation