A standard design method for high frequency PCB transformers

Some of the most critical components in a power converter are transformers and inductors. Magnetic components working at high frequencies introduce some important parasitics in the power circuit, penalizing the efficiency of the conversion. With appropriate winding strategies, these parasitics can be reduced, although some of the solutions are complex or expensive. In this paper a standard way to design and build high frequency PCB transformers with no cost penalty is proposed by means of a combination of standard layers. Design guidelines, manufacturing process and experimental results are also included in the paper.