The Feasibility of Packaging High-Frequency Microcircuits Inside the Magnetic Core

A design goal for miniaturization has long been the elimination of the magnetic circuit. In practice, the size/weight penalties are decreased by operation at higher frequency where core size can be effectively reduced. When microcircuitry is considered, the magnetic circuit is designed out. Either RC or active networks replace inductance, or it is externally added to the microcircuit. This paper will demonstrate that the microcircuit elements can be readily interconnected inside of ferrite pot cores. Linear circuits using the magnetic circuit to advantage can be packaged in the same volume as the transformer, inductance, or filter alone. The natural RFI and radiation shielding, as well as heat transfer capabilities, are inherent with this form of packaging. For illustration, a 2-kV, 20-μA power supply featuring a 60-kHz, class C oscillator; a 10-volt, 100-mA converter featuring a 300-kHz square-wave oscillator; and a 9.5-volt, 100-mA switching regulator are packaged inside ferrite pot cores. With this technique only functional input-output connections are necessary, since the microcircuitry interconnections are inside the pot core.