Podcasts · The Hardware Podcast with Fexingo: Chips, Devices, and Electronics Engineering Conversations

How Chips Are Using On-Chip Transformers for Power Delivery

2 Jul 2026 · 10 min · S2 E86

In this episode of The Hardware Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how chip designers are integrating tiny transformers directly onto silicon to solve power delivery challenges. As processors demand lower voltages and higher currents, traditional voltage regulator modules are becoming a bottleneck. On-chip transformers, fabricated using standard CMOS processes, can step down voltages with minimal loss and switch at frequencies above 100 megahertz, enabling faster transient response and smaller external components. The hosts discuss a specific implementation from a recent International Solid-State Circuits Conference paper where researchers achieved 90 percent efficiency in a 12-volt-to-1-volt conversion using an integrated transformer with a magnetic core made from cobalt-zirconium-tantalum alloy. They also touch on the trade-offs in area, thermal management, and design complexity, and why this approach is gaining traction in data center processors and mobile SoCs. A concrete look at how a century-old component is being reinvented at the nanometer scale.

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