EP2779181B1 - Mehrlagen-Mehrwindungs-Struktur für hocheffiziente Induktoren - Google Patents

Mehrlagen-Mehrwindungs-Struktur für hocheffiziente Induktoren Download PDF

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EP2779181B1
EP2779181B1 EP14000885.5A EP14000885A EP2779181B1 EP 2779181 B1 EP2779181 B1 EP 2779181B1 EP 14000885 A EP14000885 A EP 14000885A EP 2779181 B1 EP2779181 B1 EP 2779181B1
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Prior art keywords
inductor
layers
electrical
layer
conductor
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP2779181A2 (de
EP2779181A3 (de
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Vinit Singh
Jacob Babcock
Christine A. Frysz
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Nucurrent Inc
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Nucurrent Inc
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Priority claimed from US13/797,593 external-priority patent/US8803649B2/en
Priority claimed from US13/797,459 external-priority patent/US9300046B2/en
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Publication of EP2779181A3 publication Critical patent/EP2779181A3/de
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01F—MAGNETS; INDUCTANCES; TRANSFORMERS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
    • H01F17/00—Fixed inductances of the signal type 
    • H01F17/0006—Printed inductances
    • H01F17/0013—Printed inductances with stacked layers

Definitions

  • the present invention generally relates to electrical circuit components, and more specifically, to the design, operation and method of manufacture of an efficient inductor and related systems thereof.
  • US 2006/192645 A1 discloses a shredded parallel stacked inductor that includes a substrate, an oxide film formed on the substrate, metallic layers spirally formed within the oxide film, and vias formed in regions of the metallic layers to join the metallic layers in parallel, thus forming a spiral cavity in a center part of the metallic layers.
  • US 2012/280765 A1 discloses configurations for providing a stranded printed circuit board trace comprising, a plurality of conductor layers, a plurality of individual conductor traces on each of the said conductor layers, and a plurality of vias for connecting individual conductor traces on different said conductor layers, the vias located on the outside edges of the stranded trace.
  • the individual conductor traces of each layer may be routed from vias on one side of the stranded printed circuit board trace to vias on the other side in a substantially diagonal direction with respect to the axis of the stranded printed circuit board trace.
  • the stranded printed circuit board trace configuration may be applied to a wireless power transfer system.
  • EP 0 310 396 A1 discloses a planar inductor which has spiral conductor coil means sandwiched between ferromagnetic layers with insulating layers interposed therebetween.
  • the spiral conductor coil means is formed of two spiral conductor coils of the same shape arranged flush with and close to each other. Moreover, the two spiral conductor coils are connected electrically to each other so that currents of different directions flow individually through the conductor coils. Furthermore, the spiral conductor coil means is sandwiched between the two ferromagnetic layers with the insulating layers therebetween, each of the ferromagnetic layers having an area greater than the combined area of the two conductor coils.
  • US 2009/085706 A1 discloses a multilayer printed circuit board ("PCB") coil that simulates a coil formed from litz wire.
  • the PCB includes a plurality of alternating conductor and insulating layers interconnected to cooperatively form the coil.
  • Each conductor layer includes a trace that follows the desired coil shape and is divided into a plurality of discrete conductor segments. The segments are electrically connected across layers to provide a plurality of current flow paths (or filaments) that undulate between the layers in a regular, repeating pattern.
  • the coil may be configured so that each filament spends a substantially equal amount of time in proximity to the paired coil and therefore contributes substantially equally to the self or mutual inductance of the coil.
  • Each conductor layer may include a plurality of associated traces and intralayer connector that interconnected so that each filament undulates not only upwardly/downwardly, but also inwardly/outwardly in a regular, repeating pattern.
  • Inductors have been extensively utilized in electrical circuits for many years dating back to the late 1800s. Inductors are utilized in just about every electrical circuit and they play a vital role in the operation of numerous electronic devices from modern televisions to satellite communication systems. There are two common types of prior art inductors, the first type are wire wound inductors, and the second type are ceramic based inductors. Wire wound inductors have historically been constructed of a metal coil that is wrapped around a core of air, paramagnetic, or ferromagnetic material. Ceramic-based inductors are typically multilayer, film or wire-wound technologies, each having features that provide characteristics suitable for various applications.
  • inductor In an inductor, electric current travels through the metallic coil generating a magnetic flux that is proportional to the amount of electric current. A change in electrical current elicits a corresponding magnetic flux proportional to the amount of current, which in turn, generates an electromotive force (EMF), measured in volts, that opposes the change in current.
  • EMF electromotive force
  • Inductance is a measure of the amount of EMF generated per unit change in current. For example, an inductor with an inductance of 5 henries produces an EMF of 5 volts when the current through the inductor changes at a rate of 5 amperes per second.
  • a pure or "ideal inductor” is an inductor that is one hundred percent efficient. Such an ideal inductor does not dissipate or radiate energy.
  • inductors utilized in electrical circuits are not theoretical ideal inductors, but rather, are “real inductors", in that they have internal losses that dissipate or radiate energy and contribute to the overall inefficiency of the inductor. Energy loss within an inductor is generally due to internal electrical resistance which is generally the result of the traditional structure and design of an inductor, for example, wherein a coil is wrapped around a core of air or some material or wherein a coil structure is associated with a ceramic substrate.
  • the electrical resistance within an inductor is generally caused by the cumulative effects of the electrical resistance of the coil structure that is either a wire wrapped around a core material or a trace, film or mounted wire on a ceramic substrate.
  • This internal loss becomes more pronounced as the operating frequency is increased.
  • inductors of the prior art typically have higher electrical resistance and other losses.
  • this can reduce the quality factor (Q factor) of the inductor and the electrical circuit, broadening the bandwidth.
  • Q factor quality factor
  • prior art ceramic based inductors for example, Q factor values at of about 5 to about 30 are generally achieved at a given frequency.
  • Prior art wire wound inductors with either air or ferrite cores have Q values on the order of 50 to 100. Furthermore, the Q values of these prior art inductors significantly degrade with increasing operating frequency.
  • the multi-layer, multi-turn inductor of the present invention performs at greater efficiencies in a similar volume and at similar efficiencies in a substantially smaller volume.
  • the inductor of the present invention performs at greater efficiencies, particularly at RF frequencies and greater.
  • the multi-layer, multi-turn inductor of the present invention generally has a Q factor that is about 20 to 30 percent greater than the inductor designs of the prior art.
  • skin effect is the tendency of an alternating electric current (AC) to distribute itself within a conductor such that the current density is more predominant near the surface of the conductor with the remaining conductor body 'unused' relative to electrical current flow.
  • the remaining conductor body is 'unused' relative to electrical current flow because the current density typically decays with distance therewithin away from the surface of the conductor.
  • the electric current flows mostly near the surface, and is referred to as the "skin" of the conductor.
  • the depth at which the current decays to about 37% of the magnitude than at the surface is called the "skin depth.”
  • the “skin depth” then defines the electrical current cross-sectional area that carries most of the current (is active) in the conducting wire of an inductor, whether the inductor wire is a wire that is wound around a core material, or a wire that is a trace, a film or a mount on a ceramic substrate.
  • the skin effect phenomenon generally causes energy loss as current flows through the wire of the inductor and circuit.
  • Higher resistive loss at high frequencies is a problem faced by most electronic devices or appliances. Skin effect becomes more prevalent when operating frequency increases. With higher frequencies, current that normally flows through the entire cross section of the wire comprising the inductor becomes restricted to its surface. As a result, the effective resistance of the wire is similar to that of a thinner wire rather than of the actual diameter through which the current could be distributed.
  • a wire exhibiting tolerable resistance for efficient performance at low frequency transitions into a wire of unacceptable resistance at high frequency. The transition from tolerable to unacceptable resistance translates into inefficient lower quality factor values of the inductor and overall electrical circuit.
  • current inductor designs do not resolve these inefficiencies, and, in some cases, exacerbate the inefficiencies of the electrical circuit, particularly at high RF frequencies.
  • typical applications limited by current inductor technology include, for example, radio frequency identification (RFID), battery charging and recharging, telemetry, sensing, communication, asset tracking, patient monitoring, data entry and/or retrieval, induction heating, electromagnetic field generation, RF matching, RF chokes, RF MEMs, electronic switching, interference filtering, oscillators, amplifiers, induction heating, microwave circuits, magnetic resonance imaging, and the like.
  • RFID radio frequency identification
  • read range is at most three feet which is generally insufficient for pallet tracking.
  • Ultra high frequency readers enable greater read distances of eight to ten feet (2.44 meters to 3.05 meters), however, they introduce other performance issues like signals that are reflected by metal or are absorbed by water, or display unreadable, null spots in read fields.
  • Increased read range requires concentrated power to facilitate reflecting back the signal for better performance, hence, a more efficient structure could help solve these issues.
  • Litz wires were developed, in part, in an attempt to address the issues discussed above.
  • Litz wires are generally insufficient for use in high frequency applications, and are therefore generally not useful in applications having operating frequencies above about 3MHz.
  • inductors constructed with Litz wire tend to deform under physical stresses and deteriorate when exposed to harsh environmental conditions.
  • a Litz wire is a wire consisting of a number of individually insulated magnet wires twisted or braided into a uniform pattern, so that each wire strand tends to take all possible positions in the cross-section of the entire conductor. This multi-strand configuration or Litz construction is designed to minimize the power losses exhibited in solid conductors due to "skin effect" and "proximity effect".
  • Litz wire constructions attempt to counteract this effect by increasing the amount of surface area without significantly increasing the size of the conductor.
  • Litz wires exhibit some skin effect due to the limitations of stranding. Wires intended for higher frequency ranges generally require more strands of a finer gauge size than Litz wires of equal cross-sectional area, but these higher frequency wires are composed of fewer and larger strands.
  • the highest frequency at which providers of Litz wires offer configurations capable of improving efficiencies is about 3MHz. There is currently no solution for applications with operating frequencies beyond this 3MHz maximum frequency limit. Additionally, there is currently no solution that improves efficiency in a given size or provides similar efficiency in a smaller size.
  • the problem relates to how to increase the quality factor of an inductor.
  • the teachings herein alleviate one or more of the above noted problems of higher resistive losses at high frequencies resulting in lower quality factors by utilizing the multi-layer wire concept to increase the area of conductance within an inductor structure.
  • the multi-layer wire configuration results in a reduction of resistance loss and an increase in the qualify factor of the inductor structure and resulting electrical circuit.
  • the present teachings apply to the structure and design of a novel inductor for incorporation within electrical circuits. Most notably electrical circuits that operate within and above the radio frequency range of at least 3 kHz.
  • the inductor mitigates the unwanted high frequency skin effect by creating the following structure: by introducing non-conducting or poorly conductive dielectric layers within its wire, resulting in a structure that comprises layers of conducting material alternating with layers of non-conducting or poorly conducting material.
  • the structure effectively provides an increased number of surfaces each with its characteristic skin depth and all electrically, or otherwise, connected.
  • the skin depth may range from approximately one-half of the conductor depth to about equal to the conductor depth.
  • the conductor depth may be in the range of skin depth to twice the skin depth. However, depending on the available technology, costs, and application, the conductor depth may be as large as twenty times or more the skin depth.
  • the inductor typically includes a coil having at least one turn wherein the coil is made up of a multi-layer wire.
  • the desired inductance may be achieved with the coil having a partial turn.
  • the coil or segment of a coil such as an arc of a circle or side of a polygon, may be positioned such that it does not complete a full turn or revolution.
  • a fraction or partial turn may be used in addition to a set of full turns to achieve a specific inductance value.
  • the conductor layers and/or insulative dielectric layers may be composed of differing materials.
  • the desired inductance may be achieved wherein the multi-layer wire comprises different materials in at least two layers.
  • the coil or a segment of a coil may comprise a thin layer of conductive material, i.e., a conductive trace that is deposited on a surface of one or multiple insulative and/or conductive layers.
  • different materials may be used throughout the MLMT inductor structure.
  • one insulative layer may comprise a different insulative material than another insulative layer.
  • a conductive layer may comprise a different conductive material than another conductive layer.
  • Such use of different conductive and insulative materials may be used to modify or tune the inductance and performance efficiency of the MLMT inductor at different operating frequencies.
  • the use of such materials, particularly insulative materials may also be used to control and minimize heat that may be generated by the MLMT inductor, particularly at increased frequencies.
  • the desired inductance can also be achieved by the combination of turns, or partial turns, with the different material or materials that comprise the coil or segment of the coil. Hence, it is left to the designer to use several layers and/or multiple conductive traces, all of which are connected in a manner to specifically achieve an application need or an application use specification.
  • the desired inductance may be achieved or tuned using specific non-conducting or poorly conducting materials, such as semi-conducting materials, to separate the conductive layers, or it may be achieved by creating a cavity within the layer or layers and filling it with specific materials that contribute to the overall inductance of the final inductor component.
  • the multi-layer wire includes a first and second conductive layer separated by a layer of insulating material.
  • the conductive layers may have substantially the same thickness and/or depth, wherein the thickness and/or depth may be in the range of skin depth to twice the skin depth. However, depending on the available technology, costs, and application, the conductor thickness and/or depth may be as large as twenty times or more the skin depth.
  • Each conductive layer may be electrically connected to each other using at least one method of interconnect, such as but not limited to a via, a solder, a tab, a wire, a pin, or a rivet.
  • the non-conducting layer is to insulate two different conducting layers.
  • the most basic design of the non-conducting layer would ideally be as thin as the manufacturing process practically permits, while still providing sufficient insulating properties.
  • the thickness of layers is dictated by the "core thickness" and the prepreg thickness.
  • the thickness of the non-conducting layer is selected to modify the electrical behavior of the structure.
  • the thickness of the non-conducting layer may be modified to minimize performance degradation due to "proximity effects.”
  • the conductors on each layer may be staggered from subsequent layers to reduce “proximity effects.”
  • the conductor widths may be different from each other to account for the proximity effect. It is possible that all the above mentioned embodiments may be implemented simultaneously in the same structure, or only a subset of the embodiment may be implemented.
  • the multi-layer, multi-turn inductor of the present invention generally has a quality factor that is greater than inductors of prior art designs and constructions. While the quality factor varies with operating frequency and inductance, the quality factor of the multi-layer, multi-turn inductor of the present invention may range from about 5 to over 100 or more. For example, a multi-layer, multi-turn inductor of a surface mount design, having a foot print of about 1.6 mm by 0.8 mm, and operating at about 100MHz may have a quality factor of about 10, more preferably of about 20 and most preferably of about 40 or more.
  • an inductor used in wireless power applications having a diameter of about 2.5 cm and an inductance of about 48 uH, operating at a frequency between about 110 to 205 KHz may have a QF of about 15, more preferably of about 25 and most preferably of about 45 of greater.
  • an inductor used in a high frequency application having a footprint of about 6.4 mm by about 5.0 mm and an inductance about 35 nH, operating at a frequency of about 150MHz may have a QF of about 135, preferably of about 150 and most preferably of about 190 or greater.
  • an inductor used in a wireless communication circuit having a footprint of about 1mm by 0.5 mm and an inductance of about 1.6 nH, operating at a frequency of about 250MHz may have a QF of about 20, more preferably of about 30 and most preferably of about 45 or greater.
  • an inductor used in a wireless power or RFID application having a footprint of about 4.8 cm by about 4.8 cm and an inductance about 5 uH, operating at a frequency of about 13.56MHz may have a QF of about 30, more preferably of about 70, and most preferably of about a 100 or greater.
  • systems requiring two or more inductors may either have inductors with equal and even similar quality factors.
  • systems requiring two or more inductors may utilize inductors where one inductor has a quality factor substantially different from the other.
  • the quality factor selection for each inductor will depend on the application, the design specification for each and the intended use of each inductor. Additionally, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the quality factor of an inductor may be dependent on the environment in which it is used, so, for example, an inductor that has a quality factor of 20 in air, may only have a quality factor of 10 when implanted in human or animal tissue. In any given environment, the MLMT inductor structure described herein should outperform traditional inductors.
  • inductors used in high-frequency applications often exhibit higher losses due to a phenomenon called the skin effect.
  • Skin effect reduces conductive cross-sectional area, thereby increasing the resistance of a structure.
  • the increased resistance causes higher energy losses in the component.
  • higher energy losses may cause heating of a component.
  • component heating may present a safety risk, could damage equipment, or the like.
  • To resolve overheating sometimes costly mechanisms for heat management are incorporated.
  • high energy losses substantially degrade efficiency. This is particularly undesirable in mobile applications where extended battery life is needed.
  • inductive antennas with high energy losses result in limited wireless range, transmission dependence on orientation, and lower power transfer to the point of repeated unsuccessful transmissions.
  • the reduction of losses in the wire and the significantly reduced internal resistance of the inductor could enable high efficiency, compact electronic systems that consume less energy, have longer run time and simplify operation without compromising events like overheating, undesirable restrictions for successful transmission like orientation or insufficient power transfer.
  • a structure for an inductor that may be utilized in a variety of non-limiting electronic circuits.
  • the structure is designed to produce an inductance with reduced internal loss, particularly reduced electrical resistance at RF ranges and above.
  • the structure may be designed such that it is capable of selectively tuning the inductor structure or adjusting its inductance and/or quality factor to meet application and/or environment.
  • the structure may be capable of transmitting and/or receiving a combination of electrical energy, electromagnetic energy, electrical power and electronic data together or separately.
  • the structure may comprise a plurality of conductor layers, an insulator layer separating each of the conductor layers, and at least one connector connecting two or more of the conductor layers.
  • Each of the plurality of conductor layers may have at least one turn and may further be placed in a parallel orientation. Alternately the layers may be arranged in a perpendicular or an angled relationship.
  • Each conductor layer may be formed from an electrically conductive material.
  • the electrically conductive material may be comprised of copper titanium, platinum and platinum/iridium alloys, tantalum, niobium, zirconium, hafnium, nitinol, cobalt-chromium-nickel alloys, stainless steel, gold, a gold alloy, palladium, carbon, silver, a noble metal or a biocompatible material and any combination thereof.
  • the conductor layer may have a cross-sectional shape, such as, but not limited to, a curved cross-section, a circular cross-section, a rectangular cross-section, a square cross-section, a triangular cross-section, an elliptical cross-section or a trapezoidal cross-section.
  • the connector connecting the conductor layers may be but is not limited to a via, a solder, a tab, a wire, a pin, or a rivet.
  • the structure may have structural shape, such as but not limited to a circular solenoidal configuration, a square solenoidal configuration, a circular spiral configuration, a square spiral configuration, a rectangular configuration, a triangular configuration, a circular spiral-solenoidal configuration, a square spiral-solenoidal configuration, and a conformal solenoid configuration.
  • Other configurations may be used to modify the electrical properties of the structure.
  • Electrical resistance in the multi-layer multi-turn inductor structure of the present invention may be reduced when an electrical signal is induced in the inductor at a frequency.
  • the frequency may be selected from a frequency range from about 3 kHz to about 10 GHz. Further, the frequency may be a frequency band that ranges from or is within about 3 kHz to about 10 GHz.
  • the electrical signal may be an electrical current, an electrical voltage, a digital data signal or any combination thereof.
  • the inductor may comprise a plurality of conductors, each conductor having a conductor length, a conductor height, a conductor depth, and a conductive surface having a skin depth at the operating frequency/frequencies.
  • the skin depth may range from approximately one-half of the conductor depth to about equal to the conductor depth.
  • the conductor depth may be in the range of skin depth to twice the skin depth. However, depending on the available technology, costs, and application, the conductor depth may be as large as twenty times or more the skin depth.
  • the plurality of conductor layers may have at least one turn. Further, each of the plurality of conductor layers may or may not have substantially the same conductor length, conductor height, or conductor depth.
  • the conductor layers may be formed from an electrically conductive material.
  • the electrically conductive material may be comprised of copper, titanium, platinum, platinum/iridium alloys, tantalum, niobium, zirconium, hafnium, nitinol, cobalt-chromium-nickel alloys, stainless steel, gold, a gold alloy, palladium, carbon, silver, a noble metal or a biocompatible material and any combination thereof.
  • the plurality of conductors may be arranged to form an insulator body.
  • the insulator body may have an insulator body length, an insulator body width and an insulator body depth.
  • an electrical signal When an electrical signal is induced within the insulator body, the electrical signal propagates predominately through the skin depth.
  • the electrical signal may be an electrical current, an electrical voltage, a digital data signal or any combination thereof.
  • the plurality of conductors in the insulator may comprise a first conductor layer and a second conductor layer separated by an insulator layer wherein the first conductor layer is connected to the second conductor layer or more by at least one connector.
  • the conductor may have a cross-sectional shape, such as but not limited to a circular cross-section, a rectangular cross-section, a square cross-section, a triangular cross-section, or an elliptical cross-section.
  • the insulator may have a structural shape such as but not limited to a circular solenoidal, a square solenoidal configuration, a circular spiral configuration, a square spiral configuration, a rectangular configuration, a triangular configuration, a circular spiral-solenoidal configuration, a square spiral-solenoidal configuration, or a conformal solenoid configuration.
  • the circuit may be housed within the inductor body or provided external to the inductor. Such a circuit may be designed to selectively adjust the inductance and/or the quality factor of the inductor. In addition, the resonance frequency, the impedance or the quality factor of the electronic circuit within which the inductor is connected to. The circuit may be designed to adjust the internal resistance within the inductor, thereby adjusting the inductor's quality factor. Such a circuit may also be used to selectively adjust the inductance output of the inductor.
  • the circuit may be triggered or activated manually or automatically, either through a physical or electrical means such as by a multitude of stimuli, including but not limited to an electrical signal or change in its surrounding environment such as a change in temperature and/or pressure.
  • a physical or electrical means such as by a multitude of stimuli, including but not limited to an electrical signal or change in its surrounding environment such as a change in temperature and/or pressure.
  • the quality factor of the inductor may be selectively adjusted by changing the internal resistance parameters when the circuit is triggered by a change in external temperature.
  • Circuits at high frequencies extensively use additional passive elements such as inductors, capacitors, and the like.
  • Some examples of such circuit configurations include but are not limited to band pass, high pass and low pass filters; mixer circuits (e.g., Gilbert Cell); oscillators such as Colpitts, Pierce, Hartley, and clap; and, amplifiers such as differential, push pull, feedback, and radio-frequency (RF).
  • inductors are used in matching and feedback in low noise amplifiers (LNAs) as a source degeneration element.
  • LNAs low noise amplifiers
  • Lumped inductors are also essential elements in RF circuits and monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs). Lumped inductors are used in on-chip matching networks where transmission line structures may be of excessive length.
  • passive circuit element and lumped element such as lumped inductor, may be used interchangeably with passive circuit element being the broader term.
  • the passive circuit element may be an inductor, a capacitor, a resistor or just a wire. In nearly all the above mentioned circuit examples, not meant to be limiting, it is desired that the passive components are minimally lossy.
  • a benefit of the multi layer multi turn (MLMT) structure of the inductor of the present invention is its flexibility of design.
  • the MLMT structure affords the ability to achieve a wide range of inductance values with high reliability and efficiency, for a wide range of applications.
  • design specifications are created for a particular application need(s) and/or performance requirement. For example, a particular application may require an inductor having a specific self-inductance, mutual inductance with another inductor, or both.
  • Such a design specification may also limit size, demand a particular maximum resistance, or both which may not be able to be achieved by a prior art inductor.
  • the electrical efficiencies of the present invention, achieved by the MLMT structure provide an electrical component designer the ability to meet or exceed particular application design specifications that cannot be achieved by today's inductors.
  • the MLMT structure of the present invention provides an efficient, highly reliable inductor that can operate at increased frequencies in a smaller size as compared to the prior art.
  • the inductance of the present invention may be designed to be tunable to specific inductance values while in operation.
  • an embodiment is given using but is not limited to an inductor.
  • the designs should be such that maximum Q is attained while achieving the desired inductance value. In other words, the resistive loss in the inductor needs to be minimized.
  • the inductor can be implemented as, but not limited to, a TEM/transmission line, a conductive loop or conductive loops, or a spiral/solenoid/combination structure of several shapes, for example, but not limited to, a circle, a rectangle, an ellipsoid, a square, or an irregular configuration. All these embodiments, not meant to be limiting, may be realized using the multi-layer structure in the present invention.
  • an inductor as part of a larger circuit is discussed.
  • An inductor is a device or a system that stores energy in proximal magnetic fields at a specific frequency, frequencies, or frequency band(s), called the inductance frequency, frequencies, or frequency band(s). At the inductance frequency, frequencies, or frequency band(s), there is minimum electrical resistance to oscillation. In the context of electrical circuits, there is minimum electrical resistance at an optimum inductance frequency, frequencies, or frequency band(s).
  • the MLMT structure of the present invention may act as an inductor under two fundamental conditions: (1) When the MLMT structure is designed to resonate at a specific frequency, frequencies, or frequency band(s), in its environment without any additional electrical components as a self-resonator; (2) When the MLMT structure is designed to resonate at a specific frequency, frequencies, or frequency band(s), in its environment in combination with other components (for example, but not limited to, a capacitor, a capacitor bank, a capacitor and/or an inductor network).
  • the inductor may be part of a larger circuit, and the inductance behavior may be designed to occur at a frequency, frequencies, or frequency band(s), or at a frequency, frequencies, or frequency band(s) with a certain bandwidth or certain bandwidths. Additional components (e.g., resistance) may also be added to alter the bandwidth(s).
  • the conductive and insulative layers the specific design of these layers, i.e., length, width, material, and, in particular, thickness, coil segmentation, and electrical connection, that results in its higher efficiency in a similar or smaller size/volume than the prior art. This outcome is evidenced by quality factors that are more than two times higher than the prior art.
  • a method for manufacturing the multi-layer, multi-turn inductor structure of the present invention The method of manufacture creates a structure that is capable of providing inductance within an electrical circuit, particularly at RF frequencies and greater.
  • the method may comprise the steps of creating a plurality of conductor layers having an insulator between each of the conductor layers and forming at least one connection between two of the plurality of conductors.
  • the connector connecting the conductor layers may be but is not limited to a via, a solder, a tab, a wire, a pin, or a rivet.
  • the conductor layers may be created by depositing through a mask. Alternatively, the conductor layer may be created by etching excess material away. In either case, the step of creating a plurality of conductor layers having an insulator between each of the conductor layers may further include the steps of placing a first conductive layer on top of a second conductive layer and separating the first conductive layer from the second conductive layer with a first insulator.
  • the step of forming at least one connection between two of the plurality of conductors may include the steps of connecting at least two of the conductive layers comprising but not limited to a via, a solder, a tab, a wire, a pin, or a rivet.
  • the conductor layers may be formed from an electrically conductive material.
  • the electrically conductive material may be comprised of copper, titanium, platinum and platinum/iridium alloys, tantalum, niobium, zirconium, hafnium, nitinol, cobalt-chromium-nickel alloys, stainless steel, gold, a gold alloy, palladium, carbon, silver, a noble metal or a biocompatible material and any combination thereof.
  • the method comprises the steps of providing a structure that is capable of providing an inductance with an increased quality factor.
  • the method provides the steps of providing a structure that is capable of selectively adjusting or tuning the inductor wherein the inductance output and/or the inductor quality factor may be changed manually or automatically, such as through an electrical means.
  • the method comprises the steps of providing a plurality of conductors, each conductor having a conductor length, a conductor height, a conductor depth, and a conductive surface having a skin depth at the operating frequency/frequencies.
  • the skin depth ranges approximately one-half of the conductor depth to about equal to the conductor depth.
  • the conductor depth may be in the range of skin depth to twice the skin depth. However, depending on the available technology, costs, and application, the conductor depth may be as large as twenty times or more the skin depth.
  • the plurality of conductors may be arranged to form an inductor body having an inductor body length, an inductor body width and an inductor body depth; and, inducing an electrical signal in at least one of the plurality of conductors such that the electrical signal propagates through the conducting surface of the skin depth.
  • the electrical signal may be an electrical current, an electrical voltage, a digital data signal or any combination thereof.
  • the method may also include the step of providing a second plurality of conductors, each of the second conductors having a second conductor length, a second conductor height, a second conductor depth, and a second conductive surface having a second skin depth wherein the plurality of second conductors are arranged to form a second insulator body having a second insulator body length, a second insulator body width and a second insulator body depth.
  • the plurality of conductors may comprise a first conductor layer and a second conductor layer separated by an insulator layer wherein the first conductor layer is connected to the second conductor layer by at least one connector.
  • the at least one connection connecting at least two of the conductive layers comprises but is not limited to a via, a solder, a tab, a wire, a pin, or a rivet.
  • the conductor may have a cross-sectional shape not limited to a circular cross-section, a rectangular cross-section, a square cross-section, a triangular cross-section, and an elliptical cross-section.
  • the plurality of conductor layers may have at least one turn and each of the plurality of conductor layers may have substantially the same conductor length, conductor height, and conductor depth.
  • the conductor layer may be formed from an electrically conductive material.
  • the electrically conductive material may be comprised of copper titanium, platinum and platinum/iridium alloys, tantalum, niobium, zirconium, hafnium, nitinol, cobalt-chromium-nickel alloys, stainless steel, gold, a gold alloy, palladium, carbon, silver, a noble metal or a biocompatible material or any combination thereof.
  • the inductor may have a structural shape not limited to a circular solenoidal configuration, a square solenoidal configuration, a circular spiral configuration, a square spiral configuration, a rectangular configuration, a triangular configuration, a curved configuration, a trapezoidal configuration, a circular spiral-solenoidal configuration, a square spiral-solenoidal configuration, and a conformal solenoid configuration. Accordingly, the present invention differs substantially from the prior art in several ways. Unlike the prior art, including Litz wires, the present invention is optimizable for operation at frequencies up to several hundred MHz.
  • the present invention is producible by using integrated fabrication technologies such as PCB, Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC and HTCC), flex circuit technology, semiconductor technology, and the like.
  • integrated fabrication technologies such as PCB, Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC and HTCC), flex circuit technology, semiconductor technology, and the like.
  • the present invention itself and its method of manufacture provide for integratable inductor structures that are robust, are reproducibly manufacturable and that perform as required repeatably.
  • the present invention also offers a lower cost alternative to the prior art such as Litz wires. Since fabrication of the inductor structure of the present invention is in-situ it requires only one step to create. Litz wire fabrication on the other hand uses two steps in its fabrication. More notably, however, is that the fabrication process for the present invention allows for dynamic tuning of the MLMT inductor or the inductive structure.
  • the multilayer fabrication process in particular, provides for inclusion of active devices operating as switches. These switches may actively connect or disconnect layers. Judicious selection and use of these switches may create unique and different inductance values, resistance values or both. Additional components introduced to a circuit, for example, may increase overall system losses. In particular embodiments of the present invention, however, tunability becomes possible. Tunability permits losses to be kept below those typical for conventional prior art inductors.
  • the multilayer structure allows fabrication of in-situ LC circuits. By appropriately inserting a dielectric material in a formed cavity and/or depositing a large area metal trace, increased capacitance may be obtained.
  • the various technologies disclosed herein generally relate to methods, systems and apparatus to design, operate and manufacture an efficient multi-layer, multi-turn inductor of the present invention, and more specifically, to methods, systems and apparatus to design, operate and manufacture a multi-layer, multi-turn inductor for use in electrical circuits design to operate at radio frequencies (RF) of at least 3kHz and greater.
  • RF radio frequencies
  • An inductor is generally an electrical component or circuit that introduces inductance into a circuit.
  • An inductor may consist of, but is not limited to, a wire or a set of wires.
  • Inductance is generally a property of an electric circuit by which an electromotive force is induced as the result of a changing magnetic flux.
  • the magnetic flux may change instantaneously or over time and thus become a time-varying magnetic flux.
  • the magnetic flux is typically generated when a change in a frequency, a magnitude, a waveform shape, or combinations thereof, of the propagating electrical current occurs therewithin.
  • a motional electro motive force may develop.
  • the motional EMF is dependent on the velocity of motion of the inductor or inductors and the magnitude of the electrical current flowing within the inductor. When the velocity of the inductor and/or the electrical current within the inductor increases, the resulting motional EMF also increases.
  • Skin effect is generally the tendency for an alternating current to concentrate near the outer part or “skin" of a conductor.
  • the current distribution is generally uniform over the cross section; that is, the current density is the same at all points in the cross section.
  • This concept applies strictly only to plane solids, but can be extended to other shapes provided the radius of curvature of the conductor surface is appreciably greater than ⁇ .
  • the penetration depth in copper is 8.5 mm (0.33 in.); at 10 GHz it is only 6.6 ⁇ 10 -7 m.
  • Wave-guide and resonant cavity internal surfaces for use at microwave frequencies are therefore frequently plated with a high-conductivity material, such as silver, to reduce the energy losses since nearly all the current is concentrated at the surface.
  • a high-conductivity material such as silver
  • the conductor is as good as a solid conductor of the coating material.
  • Quality factor is generally accepted as an index (figure of measure) that measures the efficiency of an apparatus like an inductor, a circuit, an antenna or a resonator.
  • Via is defined herein as an electrically conductive connection from one layer to another.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates a high-level diagram of an inductor 100 for use in an electronic or electrical circuit.
  • the inductor 100 comprises a coil 102 and a multi-layer wire 104.
  • the shape of the coil 102 may be curved, circular, rectangular, triangular, trapezoidal, some other polygon, or conformal to fit within a constrained volume.
  • FIG. 1 illustrates one exemplary configuration of the coil 102 in the form of a circular shaped coil 102.
  • the configuration of the coil 102 may be curved, trapezoidal, solenoidal, spiral, spiral-solenoid, or the like.
  • a solenoid coil follows a helical curve that may have multiple turns where each turn has the same radius.
  • a spiral coil configuration may have a number of turns with a progressively increasing or decreasing radius.
  • a spiral-solenoidal coil configuration is a combination of a spiral and solenoidal configuration. Other configurations known to those of ordinary skill may also be utilized to form the coil.
  • FIGS. 2A-2H illustrate examples of different inductor 100 configurations that may be utilized.
  • FIG. 2A illustrates an embodiment of the inductor 100 in a circular solenoidal configuration 106.
  • FIG. 2B illustrates an embodiment of the inductor 100 in a square solenoidal configuration 108.
  • FIG. 2C illustrates an example of an inductor in a circular spiral configuration 110.
  • FIG. 2D illustrates an example of an inductor in a square spiral configuration 112. It is understood that other spiral configurations, such as rectangular or triangular shape may also be utilized.
  • FIG. 2E illustrates an example of the inductor 100 in a multi-layer square spiral configuration 114. It should be noted that although only two layers are illustrated in FIG. 2E , it is understood that any number of layers may be used.
  • the multiple layers may be connected using but not limited to vias, solder, tabs, wires, pins, or rivets.
  • These connectors serve at least the following two purposes: (1) the connectors connect the layers of wire for the multi-layer wire 104; and (2) the connectors connect one turn of the multi-layer wire 104 to a second turn of the multi-layer wire 104.
  • a two-turn inductor 100 then, there would be at least one via from the first turn to the second turn.
  • Other purposes may also be served by the connectors.
  • Vias can be of the form commonly used in PCB technologies (for example, through-hole, buried, blind) or those utilized in semiconductor or MEMS technology.
  • the via can be, but is not limited to, any conductive material that is laser-welded, welded, printed, soldered, brazed, sputtered deposited, wire-bonded and the like in order to electrically connect at least any two layers and/or all layers.
  • FIG. 2F illustrates an embodiment of an inductor 100 in a curved or circular spiral-solenoidal configuration 116.
  • FIG. 2G illustrates an example of an inductor 100 in a square spiral-solenoidal configuration 118.
  • FIG. 2H illustrates an example of an inductor 100 in a conformal solenoid configuration 120.
  • the inductor 100 in a conformal configuration 120 may take the form of but is not limited to a circular or rectangular solenoid or a circular or rectangular spiral. Any of the inductor configurations (106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 118 and 120) shown in FIGS. 2A-2H may be used with the present invention.
  • the coil 102 of FIG. 1 may have a plurality of turns 122.
  • a turn 122 may be but is not limited to a bend, fold or an arc in the wire 104 until the wire 104 completes a revolution around a central axis A-A of the coil 102, more specifically a revolution around a central axis point 124.
  • a turn 122 may be in the same or similar shape of the coil configuration, such as, for example, but not limited to a circle, a rectangle, a triangle, some other polygonal shape, or conformal to fit within a constrained volume.
  • FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate embodiments of a multi-layer multi-turn (MLMT) inductor 125 of the present invention.
  • MLMT multi-layer multi-turn
  • the MLMT inductor 125 comprises a single turn circular coil having N layers 126, where "N" is a number equal to or greater than one.
  • FIG. 3B illustrates an additional embodiment of the MLMT inductor 125 comprising a double turn circular solenoidal configuration 106 coil of N layers 126.
  • the inductance increases as T x
  • the resistance increases as T y
  • T is the number of turns 122.
  • x and y are 2 and 1 respectively.
  • Fig 10 three performance examples are given. The graph compares a 32 Layer-2 Turn inductor with a 32 Layer-1 Turn inductor and a 64 Layer-1 Turn inductor.
  • the inductance and resistance for the 32 Layer-2 Turn inductor increase between 3-3.5 times and 1.7-3 times, respectively; over the 32 Layer - 1 Turn inductor in the frequency range 1MHz-200MHz. This increase is very near expected values from simplistic analytical relations wherein resistance is approximately T; and inductance is approximately T 2 .
  • the multi-layer wire 104 in FIG. 1 may have but is not limited to a circular, rectangular, square, or triangular cross-sectional shape. In addition, other shapes known to those of ordinary skill may also be utilized.
  • FIGS. 4A - 4E illustrate examples of cross-sections of wires 104 that may be used in the design of an inductor.
  • FIG. 4A illustrates an example of an inductor 128 having a circular cross-section.
  • FIG. 4B illustrates an example of an inductor 130 having a rectangular cross-section 402.
  • FIG. 4C illustrates an example of an inductor 132 having a square cross-section.
  • FIG. 4D illustrates an example of an inductor 134 having a triangular cross-section.
  • FIG. 4E illustrates an example of an inductor 136 having an elliptical cross-section.
  • FIG. 4F illustrates a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a multi-layer wire 104 having a first conductive layer 138 and a second conductive layer 140.
  • An insulating material 142 separates the first conductive layer 138 from the second conductive layer 140.
  • the first conductive layer 138 and the second conductive layer 140 are connected with vias 144 which traverse the insulating material 142.
  • the conductive layers 138, 140 may comprise layers of conductive tape/ribbon/sheet/leaf or deposited metal having a metal thickness and metal strip width.
  • conductive layers 138, 140 may comprise a liquid metal, a foamed metal or a conductive ink.
  • the metal thickness of the first conductive layer 138 is identified by line B-B and the metal strip width of the first layer conductive 138 is identified by line C-C.
  • the thickness of the conductive layer 138, 140 may be approximately twice a skin depth 146.
  • the skin depth 146 may range from approximately one-half of the conductor depth to about equal to the conductor depth.
  • Each layer in a turn will have substantially the same metal thickness and metal strip width.
  • FIGS. 5 and 5A illustrate different embodiments of the skin depth 146.
  • a prior art metallic wire strand 148 is shown in which an electric current 150 is propagating therewithin.
  • the electrical current 150 is shown propagating through the surface of the wire strand 148 of the prior art due to the skin effect as previously mentioned.
  • the resulting skin depth 146 is shallow and resides near the exterior surface of the wire strand 148 of the prior art ( FIG. 5 ).
  • FIG. 5B is a graph of skin depth 146 as a function of frequency for standard wires 148 composed of copper and silver. As shown, skin depth decreases with increasing frequency for both copper and silver wires 148.
  • FIG 5A illustrates electrical current 150 propagating through a multi layer wire 104 of the present invention.
  • the structure of the multi-layered wire 104 of the present invention provides for a wider skin depth 146 that allows the electrical current 150 to propagate through a wider thickness of the multi layer wire 104, thereby increasing the efficiency of the propagation of the electrical current 150 therewithin.
  • the thickness of the insulating material may be sufficient to meet the needs of the application or equal to the minimum thickness possible by the available fabrication technology.
  • the minimum thickness as dictated by the core thickness and is about 150 microns.
  • Current PCB technology allows core thickness as low as 25 microns.
  • the thicknesses of both the conducting layers and the insulating layers can be as thin as a few 100 nanometers or even thinner.
  • the dielectric layer thickness is less than 200 microns and as perfectly insulating as possible, and with a permittivity lower than 10.
  • the dielectric layer 142 could be made from several materials, and can be of various configurations. For example, some applications may require extremely low parasitic capacitance. In such cases, a non-conducting dielectric with the lowest possible permittivity is preferred. Additionally, it may be desired to increase the insulating layer thickness to minimize the parasitic effects. Another example would be for applications that might require ferrite materials to increase inductance and/or increase magnetic shielding. In such cases, the dielectric layers may be replaced by a ferrite film/block or similar propertied configuration/material.
  • the insulating material 142 will be of a thickness such that the thickness is within the practical capabilities of the manufacturing technology used to manufacture the inductor 100 and compatible with the efficiency needs of the application for which the inductor is intended.
  • the material of the conductive layers 138, 140 may be copper or gold; however, other materials are possible.
  • the material of the conductive layers 138, 140 may also comprise, a silver, a conductive polymer, a conductive adhesive, a conductive composite, or combinations thereof.
  • copper or gold with a layer of deposited silver may also be used.
  • the typically known biocompatible materials should be utilized, including additions for enhancing conductivity.
  • conductive material taken from the group of: titanium, platinum and platinum/iridium alloys, tantalum, niobium, zirconium, hafnium, nitinol, cobalt-chromium-nickel alloys such as MP35N, Havar®, Elgiloy®, stainless steel, gold and its various alloys, palladium, carbon, or any other noble metal.
  • the insulating material 142 may be (i) air, (ii) a polyimide material such as Kapton®, (iii) a dielectric with a low permittivity (such as, for example, Styrofoam®, silicon dioxide, or any suitable biocompatible ceramic), (iv) a nonconductive dielectric with a high permittivity, (v) a ferrite material, (vi) a pyroelectric material, or (vii) a combination of the materials listed above.
  • a polyimide material such as Kapton®
  • a dielectric with a low permittivity such as, for example, Styrofoam®, silicon dioxide, or any suitable biocompatible ceramic
  • a nonconductive dielectric with a high permittivity such as, for example, Styrofoam®, silicon dioxide, or any suitable biocompatible ceramic
  • a nonconductive dielectric with a high permittivity such as, for example, Styrofoam®, silicon dioxide, or any suitable biocompatible ceramic
  • a high capacitive effect is required to affect a lower self-resonance frequency of an inductor
  • a high permittivity dielectric might be preferred, or, a combination of materials including a ferrite film or ferrite block might be preferred to increase the self-inductance of the inductor.
  • the use of a ferrite core may be used to provide increased performance.
  • FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate embodiments of different cross-sectional configurations of the multi-layer wire 104.
  • FIG. 6A illustrates a multi-layer wire 104 having a circular cross-section 152.
  • FIG. 6B illustrates a multi-layer wire 104 having a rectangular cross-section 154.
  • FIG. 6B illustrates a via 156 that connects the conductive layers 138, 140 that is positioned at a port or input 158, which is the beginning of the wire 104.
  • the positioning of the vias 144, 156 that connect the conductive layers 138, 140 may impact the performance of the inductor 100. For example, insufficient vias 144, 156 may lead to phase differences between the different layers 138, 140, 142.
  • the vias 144, 156 may be located at the beginning of the wire ( e . g ., port, input, etc), or at one or more locations along the wire. Additionally, the vias 144, 156 between one set of two or more conductive layers 138, 140 may be at a different location than another set of two or more conductive layers 138, 140. It is understood that several variations may be possible depending on the application and the system design.
  • the via 144, 156 can be made using techniques standard to the technology being utilized for the fabrication of the multi-layer multi-turn structure. In other cases, the vias 144, 156 can be implemented using soldering techniques, such as, by connecting the several layers 138, 140 at via locations using electric solder, welded tabs, laser weld tacking, or other commonly known electrical connecting techniques.
  • the MLMT inductor 125 of the present invention may also be designed to achieve a specified inductance and performance efficiency performance in a configuration that is restricted in size. More specifically, a size that is restricted dimensionally in length, width, height or any combination thereof, or a size that is restricted by volume, or both dimension(s) and volume. To achieve a specific inductance having a lower electrical resistance in having a smaller size, multiple conductive layers 138, 140 are utilized that are preferably connected in parallel. Furthermore, parallel electrical connections between conducting layers 138, 140 is preferred in achieving higher inductance values in the MLMT inductor structure 125.
  • a thin layer of a conductive material i.e., a conductive trace, may be deposited the surface of an insulative layer and/or conductive layer.
  • one embodiment is to construct the MLMT inductor 125 comprising at least two conductor layers 138, 140 that are electrically connected in parallel.
  • multiple subassemblies comprising alternate conductive 138, 140 and insulative layers 142 may be electrically connected in series.
  • a first inductor subassembly comprising a first conductor layer spaced apart from a second conductor layer, a first insulator layer positioned in the space between the first and second conductor layers wherein the first and second conductor layers are electrically connected in parallel may be electrically connected in series to a second inductor subassembly comprising a third conductor layer spaced apart from a fourth conductor layer, a second insulator layer positioned between the third and fourth conductor layers, wherein the third and fourth conductor layers are electrically connected in parallel.
  • the first, second, third or fourth conductive layers may comprise a thin conductive layer, or conductive trace, of the order of microns, composed of a similar or differing conductive material.
  • the first and second insulative layers may comprise a thin insulative layer or insulative trace, of the order of microns.
  • this embodiment may be constructed having respective conductor and insulative layers 138, 142 with layer thicknesses that are the same or different from each other.
  • the respective conductive and insulative layers 138, 142 may be constructed with a width that is the same or different.
  • proximity effect is defined as the obstruction of the flow of electrical current that caused is caused by the magnetic field(s) of adjacent conductor(s). The alternating magnetic field emanating from adjacent conductors induces eddy currents in adjacent conductors, thus altering and obstructing the overall distribution of current flowing through them.
  • the inductor 125 is preferably designed with a high inductor quality factor (QF) to achieve efficient transfer of inductance that reduces intrinsic resistive losses of the inductor at high frequencies.
  • QF quality factor
  • the quality factor is the ratio of energy stored by a device to the energy lost by the device.
  • the QF of an inductor is the rate of energy loss relative to the stored energy of the inductor.
  • a source device carrying a time-varying current such as an inductor, possesses energy which may be divided into three components: 1) resistive energy (W res ), 2) radiative energy (W rad ), and 3) reactive energy (W rea ).
  • W res resistive energy
  • W rad radiative energy
  • W rea reactive energy
  • radiative and resistive energies in the form of radiative and resistive electrical resistances, are released by the device, in this case the inductor, to the surrounding environment.
  • inductors 125 of the present invention are designed to minimize both resistive and radiative energies while maximizing reactive energy.
  • inductors, particularly inductors 125 operating at RF frequencies and greater benefit from maximizing Q.
  • this is accomplished through a reduction in the "skin effect" of the conducting materials within the inductor.
  • the "skin effect” is generally reduced through the utilization of combining a multitude of conductors having a thin thickness or narrow diameter thereby increasing the overall cross-sectional area of the conducting skin within the inductor.
  • a higher quality factor may be achieved using multiple layers in a multi-layer wire 104 for a single turn of coil. Increasing the number of turns 122 in a coil 102 may also be used to increase the quality factor of the structure. For a design at a constant frequency, there may be an optimum number of layers 126 to reach a maximum quality factor. Once this maxima is reached, the quality factor may decrease as more layers are added.
  • the design variables that may be used for the multi-layer multi-turn inductor 125 structure include:
  • the quality factor (Q) of the inductor 125 can also be defined as (frequency (Hz) X inductance (H))/resistance (ohms), where frequency is the operational frequency of the circuit, inductance is the inductance output of the inductor and resistance is the combination of the radiative and reactive resistances that are internal to the inductor.
  • the inductor 125 may be a single turn circular coil having multi-layer wire 104, as illustrated in FIGS. 7A - 7D .
  • the single turn coil includes a single turn and may include a metal strip width of approximately 1.75 mm, a metal thickness of approximately 0.03 mm, an insulating layer of approximately 0.015 mm, and an outer radius of approximately 5 mm.
  • the wire 104 may have between 5 and 60 layers 126, such as 5, 11, 20, 26, 41, or 60 layers 126.
  • FIG. 7A shows a single turn inductor having 1 layer 126
  • FIG. 7B shows a single turn inductor having 11 layers 126
  • FIGS. 7A - 7D shows a single turn inductor 125 having 20 layers 126
  • FIG. 7D shows a single turn inductor having 26 layers:
  • the corresponding coil thickness for the range of 5 to 60 layers 126 may be between approximately 0.2 mm to 3 mm, such as for example, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 1.25, 2.05, or 3 mm, respectively.
  • a higher quality factor may be obtained.
  • the quality factor at 10MHz is approximately 80.
  • the quality factor is increased to approximately 210.
  • an increase in the number of layers 126 per turn results in an increase in quality factor until maxima is reached, after which the quality factor starts to decrease. This decrease may occur when the total height of the inductor becomes comparable to its radius.
  • the degradation starts due to greatly increased parasitic effects due to the multiple layers (e.g. capacitance and proximity effects).
  • increasing the layers 126 to 20, 26, 41 and 60 results in quality factors of approximately 212, 220, 218 and 188, respectively.
  • Table 1 illustrates an example wherein a TDK model MLG1608B4N7ST inductor was compared to a computer generated model of an MLMT inductor 125 of the present invention.
  • the MLMT inductor 125 modeled such that it provides an inductance that is similar to the TDK model inductor.
  • the MLMT inductor of the present invention has a similar inductance of about 4.72 nH vs. the 4.7 nH of the TDK inductor operating at 100MHz.
  • the quality factor of the MLMT inductor 125 was determined to be about 2.8 times greater than the TDK inductor operating at about 100MHz.
  • Table 1 TDK MLMT Inductor Frequency Inductance (nH) Quality Factor Inductance (nH) Quality Factor 100 MHz 4.7 10 4.72 38
  • Table 2 illustrates an example wherein a Sunlord model HQ1005C1N5 inductor was compared to a computer generated model of an MLMT inductor 125 of the present invention.
  • the MLMT inductor 125 was modeled to provide an inductance that is similar to the Sunlord model inductor.
  • the MLMT inductor 125 of the present invention has a similar inductance of about 1.7 nH vs. the 1.5 nH of the TDK inductor operating at 250MHz.
  • the quality factor of the MLMT inductor was determined to be about 1.25 times greater than the Sunlord inductor operating at about 250MHz.
  • Table 2 Sunlord MLMT Inductor Frequency Inductance (nH) Quality Factor Inductance (nH) Quality Factor 250 MHz 1.5 20 1.7 45
  • FIGS. 8 , 10A , 11A , 12A , 12B , and 12C provide graphs of the value of the quality factor as a function of frequency.
  • FIG. 9A is a graph illustrating the relative changes in resistance and inductance with the number of layers.
  • FIG. 9B illustrates the resultant quality factor at 10MHz. It should be noted that with regard to FIGS. 9A and 9B , the data points on the graph correspond as data point 1 is for 1 layer, data point 2 is for 11 layers, data point 3 is for 20 layers, data point 4 is for 26 layers, data point 5 is for 41 layers, and data point 6 is for 60 layers.
  • any multi-layer wire 104 and/or structure it is preferable that at least two vias 144, 156 be included for any multi-layer wire 104 and/or structure. These two vias 144, 156 are preferably located at the ports 158 of the wire/structure 104. As can be seen from FIGS. 8 and 9A-9B , optimal performance for 10MHz is achieved for an inductor 125 configuration having 26 layers 126 and 1 turn 122. For this inductor configuration, the peak quality factor is obtained around 35MHz and is approximately 1100.
  • the inductor 125 may be a single turn circular coil of multi-layer wire 104 and may have a metal strip width of approximately 1 mm, a metal thickness of approximately 0.01 mm, an insulating layer of approximately 0.005 mm, and an outer radius of approximately 5 mm.
  • the wire 104 may have between 16 and 128 layers, such as 16, 32, 64, or 128 layers. However it is understood that the wire 104 may have less than 16 or more than 128 layers 126 in order to achieve a high quality factor.
  • the corresponding coil thickness for the range of 16 to 128 layers 126 may be between approximately 0.25 mm to 2 mm, such as for example, 0.25, .5, 1, or 2 mm, respectively.
  • the quality factor improves with increasing the number of layers, with larger quality factors achieved at higher frequencies.
  • the quality factor for 16, 32, 64 and 128 layers is approximately 127, 135, 140 and 185, respectively.
  • the peak quality factor increases to nearly 2900 at approximately 450MHz under these design parameters.
  • the relative resistance may be lowest around the frequency at which the conductor thickness is about twice the skin depth. In this example, that frequency is 160MHz.
  • FIGS. 10A-10C are graphs illustrating the performance parameters and trends.
  • FIG. 10A is a graph illustrating the quality factor as a function of frequency.
  • FIG. 10B is a graph illustrating the inductance relative to a 16 layer coil as a function of frequency.
  • FIG. 10C is a graph illustrating the resistance relative to the 16 layer coil as a function of frequency.
  • the quality factor improves with an increasing number of layers with relatively larger quality factors at higher frequencies.
  • FIGS. 10B and 10C where it is shown that where the inductance is relatively constant (as compared to a 16 layer 1 turn coil) with frequency, while the resistance decreases as frequency increases as shown by the troughs around 100MHz in FIG. 10C .
  • the peak quality factor goes up to approximately 2900 at around 450MHz.
  • all design parameters are the same as in the preceding example for a 32 layer wire 104, except the number of turns is doubled, resulting in a double turn circular coil.
  • the inductance and resistance for this 32 layer, double turn inductor 125 increase between 3 to 3.5 times and 1.7 to 3 times, respectively, over the 32 layer, single turn inductor in the frequency range of 1MHz to 200MHz.
  • FIGS. 11A-C are graphs illustrating the performance parameters and trends for the 32 layer, double turn inductor 125 compared to the 32 and 64 layer, single turn inductors 125 in the preceding example.
  • FIG. 11A is a graph illustrating the quality factor as a function of frequency.
  • FIG. 11B is a graph illustrating the inductance as a function of frequency.
  • FIG. 11C is a graph illustrating the resistance as a function of frequency.
  • the inductance is nearly constant and the resistance follows trends similar to the single turn embodiments.
  • both the inductance and resistance rise rapidly due to the contribution of parasitic capacitance, which is explained below.
  • the inductor may include a metal strip width of approximately 1 mm, a metal thickness of approximately 0.01 mm, an insulating layer 142 of approximately 0.01 mm, and an outer radius of approximately 10 mm.
  • a metal strip width of approximately 1 mm a metal thickness of approximately 0.01 mm
  • an insulating layer 142 of approximately 0.01 mm a metal thickness of approximately 0.01 mm
  • an outer radius of approximately 10 mm Increasing the width of the metal reduces the resistance and the inductance, resulting in a higher quality factor. Due to the overall large size of the inductor (outer radius - 10 mm), the relatively small increase in the width (w) does not reduce the inductance.
  • FIGS. 12A-C are graphs illustrating the quality factors as a function of frequency for this example with a metal strip width of approximately 1mm, 1.5mm and 2mm, respectively.
  • the quality factor at 379MHz is approximately 1425 for a metal strip width of 1mm.
  • Increasing the metal strip width to 1.5 mm and 2 mm increases the quality factor to approximately 1560 and 1486, respectively.
  • the MLMT inductor 125 of the present invention may comprise a cavity 160 that resides within the perimeter of the MLMT structure.
  • inductors are commonly fabricated with an air-core
  • the inductors fabricated using multilayer technologies such as thin film, ceramic and other similar processes (e.g. rigid printed circuit board (PCB), flexible printed circuit board (flex PCB), low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC), high temperature cofired ceramic (HTCC), etc.) have the conductive turns mostly immersed in the substrate material.
  • this substrate material may affect the performance parameters of the inductor. For example, it may lower the QF as well as the self-resonance frequency.
  • a way to reduce the substrate effect may be to introduce a cavity within the inductor volume (this may not be possible in all inductor configurations and/or fabrication processes). This cavity may be introduced during the fabrication process, or may be created during a post-processing step.
  • the cavity 160 preferably extends vertically through the structure of the inductor such that it extends through the top and bottom surfaces of the MLMT inductor 125 structure.
  • the cavity 160 comprises a cavity width 162 and a cavity length 164 and a cavity depth 166 that defines a cavity sidewall 168.
  • the cavity width 166 is about equal to the width of the inductor 125
  • the cavity length 164 is about equal to the length of the inductor 125
  • the cavity depth 166 is about equal to the depth of the inductor 125.
  • the cavity width 162 may range from about 50 percent to about 99 percent of the width of the inductor 125.
  • the cavity length 164 may range from about 80 percent to about 99 percent of the length of the inductor 125.
  • the cavity depth 166 may be about equal to the depth of the inductor 125 such that the cavity 160 extends through the top and bottom surfaces of the inductor 125 of the present invention.
  • the cavity 160 feature within the inductor structure is designed to further improve the quality factor of the inductor 125 at a given operating frequency or frequencies as compared to an inductor without the cavity 160 feature.
  • the incorporation of the cavity 160 feature reduces the degrading effects of parasitic capacitance (C par ) and parasitic resistance (R par ).
  • Parasitic capacitance is herein defined as undesirable capacitance that exits internally within the structure of a circuit element. Parasitic capacitance causes the behavior of the circuit element to divert from its intended behavior.
  • Parasitic resistance is herein defined as undesirable electrical resistance that manifests itself within an electrical circuit or component, such as a capacitor or inductor.
  • the quality factor of an inductor can generally be defined as X eff R off where X eff is the effective electrical reactance and R eff is the effective resistance.
  • R eff R par 1 ⁇ ⁇ 2 L C par 2 + ⁇ C par L par 2
  • X eff ⁇ L ⁇ ⁇ 2 L C par ⁇ C par R par 2 1 ⁇ ⁇ 2 L C par 2 + ⁇ C par L par 2
  • the inductor 125 of the present invention comprising the cavity 160 feature, particularly at frequencies greater than 1 GHz, exhibits a greater quality factor than the inductor 125 without such a feature.
  • the cavity 160 of the inductor 125 may also be used as a tuning mechanism.
  • the resonance frequency may be modified by fabricating a cavity comprising different volumes.
  • an inductor 125 built comprising a relatively high dielectric constant material FIG. 13
  • the permittivity of the material is about 70.
  • the self-resonance frequency could increase from about 25 percent to about 50 percent depending on the specific material used.
  • the resulting resonance frequency may be tuned to a specific value or values ( FIGS. 13A and 13B ).
  • FIGS 13A and 13B illustrate cross-sectional views of embodiments of the MLMT inductor 125 of the present invention in which a cavity fill material 170 is used.
  • the cavity 160 of the MLMT inductor 125 is filled with a material designed to facilitate tuning of the inductance and/or the quality factor of the inductor 125.
  • the cavity fill material 170 may comprise a metallic, a ceramic or a polymeric material. Specific examples may comprise a dielectric polymeric or ceramic material.
  • the cavity fill material 170 may comprise ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, piezoelectric, paramagnetic or paraelectric materials.
  • the MLMT inductor 125 may be enclosed in an encapsulation material 172.
  • encapsulation materials 170 may include a polymeric material such as polyimide, polyester or polyurethane.
  • the encapsulation material 174 may be used with the MLMT inductor 125 having or not having the cavity 160 as well as an inductor 125 having or not having the encapsulation material 174.
  • Model "A” represents the stated performance parameters in the manufacturer's datasheet of the prior art wire wound air inductor having a length of about 6.35mm, a width of about 4.95mm, a height of about 4.2mm, and a self resonating frequency of between about 1.0 GHz to about 1.5 GHz.
  • a second model, model "B” was generated based on the structural characteristics of the multi-layer, multi-turn inductor 125 of the present invention.
  • the second model "B” inductor 125 was designed with a nominal inductance of 39nH.
  • the second model inductor was designed with a length of about 6.35mm, a width of about 4.95mm a height of about 1.6mm, and a self-resonance frequency of about 1.6 GHz.
  • the difference in height is due to the compact, more efficient design of the multi-layer, multi-turn inductor of the present invention.
  • the table shown below details the modeled electrical performance of the modeled inductors.
  • the inductor 125 of the present invention comprises a quality factor that is greater than 100 operating at about 50MHz and about 150MHz at volume that is about 62 percent smaller than a wire wound, air core inductor of the prior art. More specifically, at an operating frequency of about 50MHz, the inductor design of the present invention has a Q factor that is about 36 percent greater than the prior art and at an operating frequency of about 150MHz, the multi-layer, multi-turn inductor 125 of the present invention has a Q factor that is about 25 percent greater than the prior art designed inductor. Thus, the multi-layer, multi-turn inductor 125 of the present invention operates at a much greater efficiency with a smaller volume than an air core wire wound inductor of the prior art.
  • an inductor may exhibit parasitic effects. Associated with the inductor is a parasitic capacitance that is frequency dependent and whose contribution to the overall impedance increases with frequency. As a result of the parasitic capacitance, there exists a self-resonance frequency for the inductor beyond which the inductor behaves like a capacitor. To prevent the onset of parasitic capacitance, the inductor may be designed such that the inductance is nearly unchanging around the frequency of operation.
  • the slope of the reactance versus frequency graph is nearly linear (around the frequency of operation) with slope, ⁇ X/ ⁇ L (where X is the reactance, and L is the inductance that was designed for). Operating the inductor in this regime ensures that the parasitic coupling via electric fields is kept to a minimum. It is understood that that the X versus ⁇ may not be perfectly linear due to other effects such as current crowding, proximity and skin effects.
  • the MLMT inductor 125 of the present invention may be used as a circuit component within such a high frequency communication circuit, either to enable tenability of different frequency bands in a multi-band device, or to adapt to a change in an external stimulus, such as in a sensor.
  • the MLMT inductor 125 of the present invention may be tuned such that its inductance and/or its internal electrical resistance within the structure can be selectively adjusted or modified to produce a desired effect.
  • the inductance and/or the quality factor may be selectively adjusted or tuned at a given frequency, frequencies or band of frequencies.
  • This tunability of the quality factor and/or the inductance may be accomplished manually or automatically, such as by an electrical means.
  • a trigger such as a change in the surrounding environment such as temperature, pressure, and the like, may elicit a change within the structure of the MLMT inductor 125 that selectively modifies the quality factor and/or the inductance of the inductor.
  • This change within the MLMT structure may be the result of an electrical signal or a mechanical switch.
  • FIG. 14 illustrates an embodiment of a multi-layer multi-turn inductor 125 of the present invention.
  • the exemplary multi-layer structure comprises four layers, a first layer 174, a second layer 176, a third layer 178, and a fourth layer 180 where each layer has one turn.
  • the structure of the inductor 125 is illustrated having a curved cross-section, each layer 174, 176, 178, 180 comprising the inductor 125 structure may be constructed with a rectangular cross-section, a circular cross-section, a triangular cross-section, or may be constructed with a non-limiting polygon cross-section.
  • the layers 174, 176, 178, 180 of the inductor 125 may be formed in a sinusoidal form, an irregular form or a " figure 8 " form where the respective left and right sides of the inductor alternate to opposite sides.
  • the inductor structure 125 further comprises at least one via 144 that electrically connects at least two layers.
  • each of the layers 174, 176, 178, 180 comprises at least one terminal.
  • a first terminal 182 resides along the first layer 174
  • a second terminal 184 resides along the second layer 176
  • a third terminal 186 resides along the third layer 178
  • a fourth terminal 188 resides along the forth layer 180.
  • Each terminal 182, 184, 186, 188 is constructed such that a gap 189 resides between respective first and second ends 183, 185 of the layers.
  • a via 144 is preferably positioned within the gap 189 providing electrical connection therebetween.
  • a first via 190 is vertically positioned between the first layer 174 and the second layer 176, residing within the gaps of the first and second terminals 182, 184 providing electrical connection therebetween and thereby forming an "A" inductor structure of two layers.
  • a second via 192 is vertically positioned between the third and the fourth layers 186, 188 residing within the gaps 189 of the third and fourth terminals 186, 188 providing an electrical connection therebetween, and thereby forming a "B" inductor structure of two layers.
  • a third via 193 is vertically positioned along an inner surface of the layers providing electrical connection between the four layers.
  • the vias may be designed such that they provide a switchable electrical connection between the layers.
  • the via switch positions may provide an electrically conducting or low electrical resistance connection between layers, a high electrical impedance connection, an electrical open, or an electrical short between layers.
  • FIG. 15 shows an embodiment of a schematic illustrating various electrical switchable connections between the four layers of the inductor shown in FIG. 14 .
  • these switches SW1-SW9
  • Table 4 shown below details the possible switchable configurations of the inductor embodiment illustrated in FIG. 15 . It is noted that these connections and layer nomenclature are exemplary. The layers are interchangeable and dependent on the overall circuit fabrication process.
  • the ability to change the electrical connections within the tunable inductor 125 of the present invention effectively changes the inductance and quality factors at the different operating frequencies.
  • FIG. 16 illustrates another tuning embodiment of the inductor of the present invention.
  • a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) driven switch may be used to tune the multi-layer multi-turn inductor of the present invention.
  • MOSFET metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor
  • FIG. 17 multiple MOSFET switches may be used to turn selected layers of the inductor on and off.
  • the incorporation of an alternate or a multitude of different materials comprising different dielectric constants may also be used to adjust or tune the inductance and quality factor of the inductor of the present invention.
  • the center or cavity 160 portion of the inductor may be filled with a polymeric material having a different dielectric constant than that of the metal layer and the dielectric insulating layer positioned between the conducting layers ( FIGS. 13A and 13B ).
  • alternate materials such as a piezoelectric or a pyroelectric material may also be incorporated within the structure of the multilayer multi turn inductor 125 of the present invention.
  • the piezoelectric or pyroelectric material may reside within the cavity 160 or alternatively comprise the insulator and/or conductor layers.
  • a piezoelectric material typically generates an electrical voltage when a mechanical stress is applied to the material.
  • a pyroelectric material generally generates an electrical voltage when the material is exposed to a change in temperature. Therefore, such materials could be incorporated within the structure, such as within a layer 126 or cavity 160, of the inductor 125 to provide the stimuli to tune or change the inductance and quality factor of the inductor 125.
  • the impedance and/or quality factor of such an inductor 125 could be automatically adjusted if the environment, such as the surrounding temperature or pressure about the inductor changes.
  • the inductor 125 of the present invention can also be incorporated within various electrical circuits that operate at least at the radio frequency range of about 3kHz.
  • the multi-layer multi-turn inductor 125 can be electrically connected within an electrical circuit operating at about 1MHz or greater.
  • such electrical circuits that operate at these frequencies can, depending on the application, be designed to carry varying amounts of electrical current in a system processing different power levels.
  • some inductors used in RF circuits are rated to carry a maximum of about 0.5A of current.
  • other inductors may be rated to carry current levels that are less than 0.1A or greater than 1A.
  • power levels are driven by the load which can range from a few microwatts to a few watts.
  • inductors utilized in induction cooking systems typically have rated currents that exceed 1 to 2 A.
  • Some inductors utilized in these induction cooking systems carry as much as 10-40A, which can transfer 3-8 kilowatts or more to the load.
  • an electrical circuit operating within these radio frequency ranges may have an electrical power of at least 1kWatt within the circuit.
  • such electrical circuits incorporating the multi-layer, multi-turn inductor of the present invention may have 0.5 kilowatts or more of electrical power within.
  • the multi-layer multi-turn inductor 125 and in particular, the multi-layer wire 104 of the present invention are designed to carry the increased electrical current and electrical power within the multiple layers.
  • FIG. 18 illustrates an embodiment of an electrical circuit 194 comprising the inductor 125 of the present invention.
  • the electrical circuit 194 is an exemplary mixer circuit.
  • a mixer circuit is an electrical circuit in which two or more electrical inputs are combined into one electrical output.
  • the inductor 125 of the present invention may be electrically connected within other non-limiting electrical circuits that are designed to operate at least within the radio frequency range.
  • the inductor 125 of the present invention may be electrically connected within an upconverting mixer circuit, a downconverting mixer circuit, modulators, demodulators, synthesizing circuits such as a PLL synthesizing circuit, amplifying and driver circuits, detecting circuits such as RF log detectors and RF RMS detectors, a wireless power circuit, positionable at either or both the transmitting or receiving side, transceivers and power controllers.
  • Such circuits incorporating the multi-layer multi-turn inductor 125 of the present invention may be used to charge an electrochemical cell within a motor vehicle such as an automobile, motorcycle, truck or the like.
  • Such electrical circuits incorporating the multi-layer, multi-turn inductor 125 may also be used for induction heating applications such as an inductive heating element of a stove, space heater or furnace.
  • FIG. 19 illustrates a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a stovetop induction heating element 196 in which the inductor 125 of the present invention is incorporated therewithin.
  • a cooking vessel 198 is positioned on the top surface of an induction heating surface 200.
  • This surface 200 is comprised of a material that does not react in the presence of adjacent magnetic fields.
  • the surface 200 is designed such that the temperature of the surface 200 does not increase thereby preventing the possibility of accidental burns or fire.
  • an electric current flows through the MLMT inductor 125 which emits an oscillating magnetic field.
  • the magnetic field produced by the inductor 125 interacts with the material (which in some cases may be ferromagnetic, of the cooking vessel 198. Such interaction increases the heat of the cooking vessel 198 which heats and cooks the food therein.
  • an induction heating system comprises an input power and power factor corrector, a rectifier and output filter, an inverter circuit, a load or resonant circuit and a control circuit.
  • FIG. 20 illustrates an embodiment of an electrical circuit comprising the MLMT inductor 125 that is designed for use with an induction heating cooking element 196. As shown, the circuit comprises at least one computer processor 202, an electrical power driver 204, a power factor corrector 206, a rectifier 208, the MLMT inductor 125, and a capacitor 210.
  • Induction heating systems such as the induction stove top heating element 196 shown in FIG. 19 , in general provide efficient, high speed, low pollution producing heat.
  • the MLMT inductor 125 of the present invention can be used in the KHz frequency range and unlike Litz wire induction heating elements of the prior art, can also be operated in the MHz frequency range. Thus by operating in the MHz frequency range, the MLMT inductor 125 provides an induction heating element that operates more efficiently with lower energy loss.
  • cooking vessels 198 comprising copper and/or aluminum, such as a copper or aluminum base may also be used.
  • the present teachings also include a method of manufacturing the inductor after the inductor is designed.
  • the multi-layer multi-turn inductor 125 may utilize strips of metal that may be deposited through a specific mask in, for example but not limited to, a PCB/ceramic/metal printing process or in a semiconductor foundry.
  • An alternative method of fabricating the inductor may utilize conductive tape/ribbon/sheet/leaf with one or more tape/ribbon/sheet/leaf placed on top of each other separated by an insulating layer and shorting the multiple strips by soldering at the designated via locations.
  • Another method of fabricating the inductor would be to cut out specific shapes from conductive sheets or "leaf' (for e.g.
  • a three dimensional printing process (such as that offered by Eoplex Technologies) may also be used in addition to metal deposition processes like physical vapor deposition, thin film deposition and the like.
  • the present teachings lend itself to be incorporated with current fabrication techniques for multi-layer printed wiring board, printed circuit boards and semiconductor fabrication technologies with multi-layer interconnects as shown in FIG. 21 .
  • fabrication techniques As advancements in fabrication techniques are made, it is expected that the multi-layer multi-turn inductor 125 will likely benefit greatly from such improvements. This compatibility with conventional fabrication techniques will allow these inductors to be relatively easily incorporated into conventional circuit boards. Such advances may also provide accurate repeatability and small feature sizes ( i.e ., high resolution).
  • the unique arrangement of the layers and customized wire segmentation in the present system compared with existing design technologies demonstrates improved system performance in similar and smaller packaging volumes as shown by quality factors that are more than two times higher than those realized from existing technologies.
  • the present system permits pairing of the inductance and quality factor with a specific application to optimally achieve a desired response, including, but not limited to, electrical circuit operation, particularly high frequency RF electrical circuit operation, and increased electrical power and current carrying applications.
  • NFMC Near Field Magnetic Coupling
  • the proposed system also provides a solution that can be relatively easily achieved by existing manufacturing techniques (for example multi-layer printed wiring board, FIG. 21 ), and can therefore be integrated with other circuit components such as ICs, resistors, capacitors, surface mount components, etc.
  • the present invention may be utilized in a system for multi-mode operations.
  • a system may include an antenna of a multi-layer multi-turn structure as discussed in U.S. patent applications 13/233,569 , 13/233,538 , 13/233,624 , 13/233,663 , 13/233,686 , 13/233,729 , 13/233,735 , and 13/233,751 .
  • NFMC Near Field Magnetically Coupled
  • NFC Near Field Communication
  • an NFMC system when designing for 13.56 MHz operation, may be designed to operate in at least two modes: (1) the wireless power mode, to transfer electrical power wirelessly and (2) an NFC mode that enables near field data transfer.
  • Other modes of communication known to those of skill in the art are also possible.
  • the present invention could be utilized in a radio frequency identification (RFID) system, wherein the additional NFC functionality could be included such that RFID sensors/transponders would be enabled to detect and communicate with other devices.
  • RFID radio frequency identification
  • the additional NFC mode could enable low frequency RFID detection and communication (for example 135 KHz).
  • the system may also operate at higher frequencies.
  • the RFID system could operate in both wireless power and near field communication modes at a frequency of about 6.78 MHz.
  • additional circuitry may be utilized to switch between the wireless power mode and communication mode(s).
  • the antenna or RFID sensors/transponders may be designed such that they can be switched between wireless power transfer mode, NFC mode and/or another communication mode.
  • the antenna or RFID sensor/transponder may or may not be comprised of an MLMT structure.
  • a system for multi-band wireless power transfer and multi-band near field communication may include an antenna or antennas, i.e. an MLMT antenna, enabled for multiband wireless power transfer and/or near field communication.
  • multiple wireless power frequency bands might be utilized for wireless electrical power transfer. In an example, frequencies within in the ranges 100 to 500 KHz, 6.5 MHz to 7 MHz, and 13 MHz to 14 MHz may be utilized. However, it is recognized these frequency ranges are for illustration purposes and should not be considered limiting. Other frequency ranges may also be utilized.
  • a multi-layer multi-turn antenna for multi-mode multi-band wireless power transfer and/or near field communication
  • benefits include, for example, interoperability across various protocols and versatility among various electrical circuitries and systems.
  • the system since the system incorporates the multi-layer multi-turn structure of the present invention, the system requires less space in a device due to its compact efficient structure and circuitry.
  • the multi-turn multi-layer structure is cost effective to manufacture.
  • such systems may include additional circuitry for further enablement of features such as mode switching, tuning, and/or interference mitigation among others.
  • the inductive antenna structure utilized in the system may or may not be of the MLMT type.
  • the antenna should be designed such that it is capable of switching between different frequency bands for wireless power transfer and/or near field communication. Such switching can be achieved utilizing tuning techniques discussed above or other switching or tuning techniques known in the art.

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Claims (15)

  1. Ein Induktor (100), der eine Spule aus einem mehrschichtigen Draht beinhaltet, der Folgendes umfasst:
    a) mehrere Leiterschichten (138), wobei jede Leiterschicht, voneinander beabstandet, eine Leiterdicke, eine Eindringtiefe und einen elektrischen Widerstand aufweist, wobei mindestens ein Schalter mit mindestens einer der mehreren Leiterschichten (138) verbunden ist;
    b) eine Vielzahl von Isolatorschichten (142), wobei eine der Vielzahl von Isolatorschichten im Raum zwischen der Vielzahl von Leiterschichten (138) angeordnet ist, wodurch eine Induktor-Struktur aus abwechselnden Leiter- und Isolatorschichten gebildet wird, die eine Induktivität mit einem Gütefaktor bei einer Betriebsfrequenz aufweisen kann;
    c) mindestens einen Verbinder (144), der mindestens zwei der mehreren Leiterschichten (138) elektrisch verbindet;
    d) wobei die Dicke von mindestens einer der mehreren Leiterschichten (138) gleich oder größer ist als die Dicke der Eindringtiefe (146) der Leiterschicht (138) bei der Betriebsfrequenz; und
    e) wobei die Betätigung des mindestens einen Schalters die Ausbreitung eines elektrischen Stroms durch den Induktor entlang eines elektrischen Pfades mit einer anderen Konfiguration als vor der Betätigung des mindestens einen Schalters ermöglicht, wodurch mindestens einer der Folgenden: der elektrische Widerstand, die Induktivität und der Gütefaktor des Induktors verändert wird.
  2. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1, wobei sich ein Hohlraum (160) innerhalb eines äußeren Umfangs der Induktor-Struktur befindet, der sich senkrecht durch mindestens einen Teil der Dicke der Induktor-Struktur erstreckt.
  3. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1 oder 2, wobei der Schalter ausgewählt wird aus der Gruppe bestehend aus einem elektrischen Schalter, einem mechanischen Schalter, einem Metalloxid-Halbleiter-Feldeffekttransistor und Kombinationen davon.
  4. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1 - 3, wobei der elektrische Widerstand von mindestens einer der mehreren Leiterschichten (138) verringert wird, wenn eine Querschnittsfläche der Eindringtiefe (146) innerhalb mindestens einer der mehreren Leiterschichten (138) vergrößert wird.
  5. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1 - 4, wobei die Verbinder-Länge des mindestens einen Verbinders (144) kleiner als Wellenlänge/10 der Betriebsfrequenz ist.
  6. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1 - 5, wobei der Induktor (100) bei der Betriebsfrequenz einen Induktor-Gütefaktor größer als etwa 5 aufweisen kann.
  7. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1 - 6, wobei die Betriebsfrequenz mindestens 3 kHz beträgt.
  8. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1 - 7, wobei die Betätigung des mindestens einen Schalters die Ausbreitung des elektrischen Stroms entlang eines zweiten elektrischen Pfades mit einer zweiten Konfiguration ermöglicht, die sich von einem ersten elektrischen Pfad mit einer ersten Konfiguration vor der Aktivierung des Schalters unterscheidet.
  9. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1 - 8, wobei mindestens eine der mehreren Leiterschichten (138) aus einem wärmeleitenden Material gebildet ist.
  10. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1 - 9, wobei der mindestens eine Verbinder mindestens zwei der mehreren Leiterschichten (138, 140) elektrisch parallel verbindet.
  11. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1 - 10, der eine dritte Leiterschicht (178) und eine vierte Leiterschicht (180) umfasst, die elektrisch parallel geschaltet sind, und wobei mindestens zwei der mehreren Leiterschichten (138, 140) mit der dritten und vierten Leiterschicht (178, 180) elektrisch in Reihe oder parallel geschaltet sind.
  12. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1 - 11, wobei mindestens eine der mehreren Isolatorschichten (142) aus einem elektrisch isolierenden Material besteht, ausgewählt aus der Gruppe bestehend aus einem Polyimid, einem nicht elektrisch leitenden dielektrischen Material, Siliziumdioxid, einem keramischen Material, einem Ferritmaterial, einem pyroelektrischen Material und Kombinationen davon.
  13. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1 - 12, wobei jede der mehreren Leiterschichten (138) mit mindestens einem Anschluss elektrisch verbunden ist, wobei der mindestens eine Anschluss mit dem mindestens einen Schalter elektrisch verbunden ist.
  14. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 1 - 13, wobei der Induktor (100) mit einem Stromkreis (194) elektrisch verbindbar ist.
  15. Der Induktor nach Anspruch 14, wobei die elektrische Schaltung (194) ausgewählt ist aus der Gruppe bestehend aus einer Mischerschaltung, einer Impedanzanpassungsschaltung, einer Aufwärtswandler-Mischerschaltung, einer Abwärtswandler-Mischerschaltung, einem Modulator, einem Demodulator, einer Synthesizer-Schaltung, einer PLL-Synthesizer-Schaltung, einer Verstärkerschaltung, einer elektrischen Treiberschaltung, einer elektrischen Detektionsschaltung, einem RF-Log-Detektor, einem RF-RMS-Detektor, einem elektrischen Transceiver, einem Leistungsregler, einer Induktionsheizschaltung und Kombinationen davon.
EP14000885.5A 2013-03-12 2014-03-12 Mehrlagen-Mehrwindungs-Struktur für hocheffiziente Induktoren Active EP2779181B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (12)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US13/797,593 US8803649B2 (en) 2009-03-09 2013-03-12 Multi-layer-multi-turn high efficiency inductors for an induction heating system
US13/797,581 US8698591B2 (en) 2009-03-09 2013-03-12 Method for operation of multi-layer-multi-turn high efficiency tunable inductors
US13/797,459 US9300046B2 (en) 2009-03-09 2013-03-12 Method for manufacture of multi-layer-multi-turn high efficiency inductors
US13/797,415 US8692641B2 (en) 2009-03-09 2013-03-12 Multi-layer-multi-turn high efficiency inductors with cavity structures
US13/797,534 US8710948B2 (en) 2009-03-09 2013-03-12 Method for operation of multi-layer-multi-turn high efficiency inductors
US13/797,478 US8692642B2 (en) 2009-03-09 2013-03-12 Method for manufacture of multi-layer-multi-turn high efficiency inductors with cavity
US13/797,437 US8610530B2 (en) 2009-03-09 2013-03-12 Multi-layer-multi-turn structure for tunable high efficiency inductors
US13/797,611 US8823481B2 (en) 2009-03-09 2013-03-12 Multi-layer-multi-turn high efficiency inductors for electrical circuits
US13/797,561 US8698590B2 (en) 2009-03-09 2013-03-12 Method for operation of multi-layer-multi-turn high efficiency inductors with cavity structure
US13/797,629 US8823482B2 (en) 2009-03-09 2013-03-12 Systems using multi-layer-multi-turn high efficiency inductors
US13/797,503 US8707546B2 (en) 2009-03-09 2013-03-12 Method of manufacture of multi-layer-multi-turn high efficiency tunable inductors
US13/797,387 US8680960B2 (en) 2009-03-09 2013-03-12 Multi-layer-multi-turn structure for high efficiency inductors

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US4959631A (en) * 1987-09-29 1990-09-25 Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba Planar inductor
KR100637078B1 (ko) * 2005-02-15 2006-10-23 삼성전자주식회사 절단형 병렬 적층 인덕터
US7973635B2 (en) * 2007-09-28 2011-07-05 Access Business Group International Llc Printed circuit board coil
US8410636B2 (en) * 2008-09-27 2013-04-02 Witricity Corporation Low AC resistance conductor designs
EP2775564A1 (de) * 2013-03-06 2014-09-10 NuCurrent, Inc. Mehrlagige Mehrfachwindungsstruktur für leistungsstarke drahtlose Kommunikation
EP2775565A1 (de) * 2013-03-06 2014-09-10 NuCurrent, Inc. Mehrlagige Drahtstruktur für hochwirksame Drahtloskommunikation

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