Monday
February 18
4:00 - 4:50 PM 
Kelley 1001

 

Donald S. Gardner 
Circuits Research Lab
Intel Labs
Hillsboro, OR

 

Integrated On-Chip Inductors Using Magnetic Material

 

The integration of on-chip inductors with magnetic materials in Si technology 
has been a major challenge in the move towards monolithic solutions for 
wireless microelectronics, power delivery, and EMI noise reduction. On-chip 
inductors with 2 levels of magnetic material have been integrated into advanced 
90 nm and 120 nm CMOS process using Al and Cu metal and CoZrTa magnetic 
material. The magnetic material has to have high-temperature and long 
annealing-time stability, minimal hysteretic loss, high saturation 
magnetization, low magnetostriction, high resistivity, and compatibility with 
Si technology. CoZrTa has a saturation magnetization of 1.6 Tesla, a high 
permeability of 850, and low coercivity of 0.015 Oe. The CoZrTa increases the 
inductance and quality factors (ωL/Rac) by up to a factor of 27X, much higher 
than before. With such improvements, the effects of eddy currents, skin effect, 
and proximity effect become clearly visible. The ratios of L/R (inductance 
versus AC resistance) of different width lines using 5 um thick Cu or 1 um 
thick Al are shown with 2 layers of CoZrTa except as indicated. Diagonal lines 
indicate corresponding Q-factors. Using Cu and thicker CoZrTa increases the L/ 
Rac ratios, but eddy currents are limiting the Q-factor. Eddy currents are more 
severe with thicker magnetic films confirmed by simulations (see dashed lines). 
Adding slots or laminations reduces the eddy currents, but also reduces the 
inductance.

 

Biography:

 

Don Gardner has been with Intel Corporation since 1991 and is currently a 
principal engineer in the Circuits Research Lab and also is a visiting 
scientist at Stanford University. Don received his PhD in Engineering from 
Stanford University. He has had appointments as a visiting research scientist 
at Hitachi Research Labs located in Japan and as an instructor at Stanford 
University. He is the inventor or co-inventor of 54 patents including for 
inductors using high-frequency magnetic materials, Al-Ti layered metal for 
interconnections, reflow of copper metal, and embedded ground planes. Don has 
published and presented over 100 electrical engineering, materials science and 
computer science papers. He has received 3 Best Paper and Poster awards at 
international conferences and his paper on RF inductors was judged the best at 
the IEEE IITC conference. He enjoys bringing new life to old technologies by 
blending them with different technologies or recent science and materials. His 
current interests include magnetic materials for inductors, silicon-based 
optoelectronic devices, nanostructure design, and process technology.

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