Design and Assessment of Track Structures in High-Frequency Planar Inductors

 This paper provides a practical guideline for conductor arrangement in a planar inductor by investigating various arrangements for conductors. In order to have a comprehensive study, four different structures have been considered and compared. Numerous design parameters such as track width, track length, location of the conductors between the central limb and the lateral limb, and number of transposition points among sub-tracks for both air-core and ferrite-core inductors are considered. Each structure is evaluated according to AC resistance, RAC /RDC, and inductance. Measurement results reveal that it is critical to take into account all three characteristics when deciding the suitable structure for the conductors. Studies are carried out based on measurement results for experimental prototypes in the frequency range of 10Hz-1MHz and a set of guidelines has been provided with regard to the design of planar inductors to achieve desired characteristics.