Energizing Power Management

While the electronics industry has been ceaselessly pursuing faster and smaller devices, in reality, a transistor must measure at least a few nanometers to physically exist, and that the smallest size for transistors to date has already reached an almost unbelievable 5 nanometers. This seemingly unsurpassable physical limit has prompted the high-tech sector to shift their focus from attaining smaller sizes to the enhancement of functionality, by adding device capabilities to the “brain” provided by the decision-making transistors. This could be in the form of sensors, or through passive components, made possible by the novel technology pioneered by Prof Johnny Sin, a leader in the field of microelectronic devices.

Prof Sin’s embedded solenoid inductor microelectronic technology improves inductor efficiency by 6 percent, while many current solutions struggle to attain even a 1-percent improvement. Even more impressively, the huge saving on energy has been accomplished on an area 5.5 times smaller than that of the conventional “on-chip” design. Utilizing this innovation, Prof Sin has been building novel power management integrated circuits to advance energy storage and distribution, and ultimately, the microprocessor industry.

Believing in the global commercial potential of such inventions, Prof Sin and his PhD students have formed a start-up to bring their US and China-patented technology to market.

Prof Johnny Sin is Professor Emeritus of Electronic and Computer Engineering and was named an IEEE Fellow in 2012, for his contributions to the design and commercialization of power semiconductor devices.