Evolution of Magnetics in Power Electronics Applications and Facing the Challenges of Future Electronics Industry

Abstract:
Despite the fact that magnetism and magnetic components existed for a large period of time most of the electronics engineers prefer to consider the magnetic components as a black box or even as black magic. It is a widely accepted fact that magnetic components have not gone through its evolution at a competitive or even at a sufficient speed compared to the evolution of electronics. This could be explained by the fact that magnetic components are such a fundamental component and a considerable change in the nature of them would require shaking the rules of physics. In this paper a compressive coverage is given on the evolution of magnetics from conventional wire wound components to planar magnetics to PCB integrated and on chip magnetics. The suitability of each generation of magnetics for different areas of magnetics is discussed with practical examples. The development of ultra-high power high frequency magnetics also discussed based on developments done by the Author.