A Smart Power Integrated Circuit Educational Tool

This paper describes a course in Smart Power based on the introduction of an innovative educational tool-a preprocessed Smart Power integrated circuit. The methodology used to introduce students to the issue of Smart Power design, resorting to low cost standard CMOS technology is presented. The theoretical support is envisaged to provide the required knowledge to specify characteristics and performance of the most common blocks used in Smart Power and to develop skills for monolithic integration. Through design, simulation, and experimental characterization, the students were able to experience the different steps of a Smart Power project, from the power device basic switching cell mask layout to the final system prototype, in 60 hours of a one semester course. The referred Smart Power Integrated Circuit (IC) embedding analog and digital basic blocks and high-voltage transistor arrays is the key idea to the presented pedagogical methodology. Based on this Smart Power IC, different topologies required by power electronics and power management systems were implemented. A complete system illustrative example-a step-down hard-switching dc-dc regulator (buck regulator)-implemented by the students is shown and discussed.