Vector-based impedance analysis of planar air-core inductors

• Main Author: Lienardi, Hansen
• Other Authors: Chang Joseph
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/177231
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Inductors are indispensable passive components used for energy storing and signal processing. Among the various types of inductors, the air-core planar inductor is favored for its low cost and thin profile, thereby rendering it a popular choice for integration on microchips and printed circuit boards. This inductor is often used in high-frequency applications, such as power management and wireless communication systems. Nonetheless, as operating frequencies increase, the impact of parasitic capacitances within the inductor becomes increasingly significant, potentially leading to unintended issues during system operation. Therefore, it is crucial to analyze these capacitances during the early stages of the inductor design to proactively address any potential issues that could arise when the inductor is integrated within the system. An important factor that determines the capacitance of the air-core planar inductor is its geometry. A widely employed method to assess the influence of the inductor's geometrical configuration is by employing electromagnetic field solvers simulations to analyze various possible configurations. Nevertheless, these simulations are time-consuming and computationally intensive, making them inefficient during the design phase due to the numerous geometrical configurations that could be examined. Hence, it is desirable if there is a faster, yet accurate, method to analyze the impedance of air-core planar inductors. In this project, a vector-based method will be proposed to compute the capacitance of planar air core inductors. This method will decompose the inductor into vectorized segments and analyze the capacitance, on a segment-by-segment basis. The potential advantage of this method lies in its speed compared to electromagnetic field solvers. The speed and accuracy of the proposed method will be benchmarked against established solvers.