Inductors are a significant contributor to mass in many power applications including the dc link in high-power drives and in dc-dc power conversion equipment. Permanent magnet inductors (PMIs) may be used in place of traditional inductors in dc biased applications with significant (40%) mass savings. This paper sets forth a rigorous, systematic, and multifaceted design paradigm for a PMI, using a buck converter application as an example. The algorithm includes electrical, magnetic, and thermal analysis and minimizes overall converter mass and loss. The algorithm is demonstrated in the design and testing of a 4 kW laboratory scale dc-dc converter.