High Frequency, High Density Board-Mounted Power - Its Impact on Large Electronic Systems of the Future (NOT PUBLISHED)

The ongoing effort within the power supply industry to develop higher frequency, higher power density DC-to-DC power converters in the 25 to 150 watt range has gained considerable momentum in recent years. Triggered by the introduction of the power MOSFET near the beginning of the decade, this work was initially directed toward increasing the switching frequency of conventional switchmode converter circuits. While higher frequency, more impact, MOSFET-switched circuits have become a reality, practical cost and noise considerations have resulted in few switchmode converters operating above several hundred kilohertz. More recently, however, investigators have begun to intensify development of resonant circuit topologies operating to frequencies in excess of 10 megahertz. Although this field is still in its infancy, a few products based on resonant circuit topologies have appeared in the marketplace. Resonant topologies appear to offer unprecedented levels of performance, with high power density, low noise, and high efficiency among their touted advantages.