[News] Researchers Develop Piezoelectric Hybrid Chip, Achieving 96.2% Power Conversion Efficiency for GPU
An engineering team at University of California San Diego has developed a new chip designed to improve the efficiency of power delivery to GPUs in data centers. As power consumption in data centers continues to surge, the researchers noted that how to efficiently convert high-voltage electricity into the low voltages required by computing hardware has become a critical challenge. The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.
The newly developed chip focuses on DC-DC buck converters, a common component in electronic systems. Data centers typically distribute power at 48 volts, while GPUs generally operate at just 1 to 5 volts. Achieving such substantial voltage reduction while maintaining high efficiency has long been a major hurdle in power management. Conventional designs largely rely on magnetic components such as inductors, which the team said are approaching their performance limits.
To explore an alternative approach, the researchers replaced traditional magnetic components with piezoelectric resonators, which store and transfer energy through mechanical vibrations. In theory, piezoelectric converters offer several advantages, including smaller size, higher energy density, improved efficiency, and easier scalability for mass production. However, earlier generations of piezoelectric designs often struggled to maintain both high efficiency and sufficient output capability when handling large voltage conversion ratios.
The team addressed these limitations by developing a hybrid architecture that combines piezoelectric resonators with compact commercial capacitors in a specific configuration. This design enables electrical energy to flow through multiple pathways, reducing power losses while easing the load on the resonators.
In laboratory testing, the prototype chip successfully stepped down voltage from 48 volts to 4.8 volts while achieving a peak efficiency of 96.2%. Output current was also approximately five times higher than that of previous piezoelectric converter designs, with only a marginal increase in chip size.
Researchers emphasized that the technology remains at an early stage and is not yet ready to replace existing power conversion solutions. Future work will focus on improving materials, circuit design, and packaging techniques. Since piezoelectric resonators generate vibrations during operation, they cannot be mounted to circuit boards using conventional soldering methods, making the development of new integration approaches a key area for further research.
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