Research

Research collaborations focus on areas identified by corporate members as relevant to industry needs including:

• New circuit topologies, power management integrated circuits (ICs), and discrete power converters that can achieve high power density and high efficiency;
• Next generation passive components including inductors, transformers, and resonant structures that can operate efficiently at high frequency while reducing size and materials cost;
• Integrated passive components for high-density power management that leverage available semiconductor foundry process capabilities and next-generation magnetic materials;
• System design, optimization, and control for a variety of converter architectures that leverage small passive components to operate at high frequency or in resonant modes.
• Aspects of reliability and robustness in power electronic circuits including design in high temperature, harsh environments and electromagnetic interference.

R&D efforts span multiple levels in the power electronics space to support a variety of industry-sponsored projects and train the next generation of engineers in critical areas. In particular, the Center explores new circuit architectures and design techniques that leverage high-level integration to expand the boundaries of efficiency and power density.

PMIC emphasizes passive component innovation and integration, magnetic materials and component design, and new high-density resonant structures for power delivery. At the system-level, new control techniques, novel circuit operation, and integration strategies are explored that can improve performance and robustness while reducing size and cost.

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Current Research Projects at PMIC

• “[redacted] Converter with Partial Power Processing,” Nam Vu, Hieu Pham, and Prof. Hanh-Phuc Le (UC San Diego)
• “[redacted] DC-DC Converter for Non-Isolated 48-V-Bus Applications,” Avinash Maddela and Prof. Jason Stauth (Dartmouth)
• “Fully Integrated Isolated Power Converter with [redacted],” Kishalay Datta and Prof. Jason Stauth (Dartmouth)
• “Closed-Loop Control of an Integrated [redacted] DC-DC Converter,” Prof. Patrick Mercier (UC San Diego)
• “[redacted] Integrated Inductors,” Prof. William Scheideler (Dartmouth)
• “Hybrid Topological Benchmarking and Exploration,” Prof. Patrick Mercier (UC San Diego)
• “Improved Coupled Inductor for High-Current-Density Vertical Power Delivery,” Prof. Charles Sullivan, Dr. Thomas Guillod, and Allen Nguyen (Dartmouth)
• “[redacted] Converters for 800 V to Intermediate Bus in Datacenters,” Prof. Jason Stauth and Prof. Charles Sullivan (Dartmouth)
• “[redacted] Control for High-Current VR and POL Applications,” Prof. Jason Stauth (Dartmouth)
• “Integrated Converter with High Power Density Using [redacted] and Advanced [redacted],” Prof. Hanh-Phuc Le (UC San Diego)
• “[redacted] for Enhanced Resonator Design and Improved Component Integration,” Prof. Rebecca Gallivan (Dartmouth)