Integrated Passive Devices and Switching Circuit Design for a 3D DC/DC Converter up to 60 v

This work presents the design and test of a switched-cap 3D DC/DC converter able to work up to 60V. The switches and the control circuits are integrated single-chip in a high-voltage (HV) MOS technology, and the passive devices are stacked on top of the chip. As an innovation versus the state-of-the-art, the work first presents the design of integrated passive devices, based on through silicon vias (TSV) MOS-compatible technology, which are suitable for switching converter applications up to 60V. Then, the implementation and experimental characterization of the switched-cap 3D DC/DC is proposed, with the silicon TSV capacitors stacked on top of the 0.35μm HV-MOS die. Compared with the state-of-the-art, the proposed 3D DC/DC converter is a compact circuit, able to directly regulate a wide input voltage range (from 6V to 60V) to a 5V, 2W output. Hence, it is suitable to supply low-power loads, such as control units and/or sensors, directly from the 48V power line available in hybrid vehicles or telecom and networking systems