3 3
Regards,
Philip Lessner PhD,
Sr Vice President & Chief Technology Officer
KEMET Electronics Corporation
KEMET, a subsidiary of Yageo
Corporation (TAIEX: 2327), helps
its customers build tomorrow with
the broadest selection of capacitor
technologies in the industry,
along with an expanding range
of electromechanical devices,
electromagnetic compatibility
solutions, and supercapacitors.
With more than 100 years of making
the world a better, safer, and more
connected place to live, our vision
is to be the preferred supplier of
electronic component solutions,
demanding the highest standards
of quality, delivery, and service.
Additional information about
KEMET can be found at
www.kemet.com.
Higher power needs for artificial intelligence compute, green initiatives, and miniaturization are driving
innovations in power conversion. Our ability to meet these challenges is enabled by innovations in
semiconductor switch materials, new power conversion topologies, and innovations
in passive components.
Wide-band-gap (WBG) semiconductor switches are the enabler of higher power efficiency, frequencies,
and operating temperatures. These switches enable us to shrink the size of capacitors and inductors and
pack the components closer together, decreasing the size of the converter. This development creates new
challenges in electromagnetic interference, temperature rating of components, and materials for
high frequencies.
New topologies, such as LLC resonant converters, also have a role to play in increasing efficiency. They
have been applied in 48-volt–to–12-volt conversion in data centers. But, like WBG semiconductors, these
topologies also require capacitor and inductor innovations—high-frequency, low-loss components that
operate under AC signals.
Ultimately, the desire for miniaturization leads to moving the power convertor onto the chip interposer,
and then onto the chip itself. The first stage of this shift has already begun and will only accelerate as new
packaging technologies further penetrate into the mainstream. Designers of semiconductors switches,
power management integrated circuit, and capacitors, and inductors must rise to meet the challenge.
This publication aims to describe some of the advances in power conversion technologies and the
resulting challenges as we continue to push the design envelope for future devices.
FOREWORD
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