Merged two-stage power converter with soft charging switched-capacitor stage in 180 nm CMOS

In this paper, we introduce a merged two-stage dc-dc power converter for low-voltage power delivery. By separating the transformation and regulation function of a dc-dc power converter into two stages, both large voltage transformation and high control bandwidth can be achieved. We show how the switched-capacitor stage can operate under soft charging conditions by suitable control and integration (merging) of the two stages. This mode of operation enables improved efficiency and/or power density in the switched-capacitor stage. A 5-to-1 V, 0.8 W integrated dc-dc converter has been developed in 180 nm CMOS. The converter achieves a peak efficiency of 81%, with a regulation stage switching frequency of 10 MHz.

[1]  A. Ioinovici,et al.  Development of power electronics converters based on switched-capacitor circuits , 1992, [Proceedings] 1992 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems.

[2]  P.K.T. Mok,et al.  A monolithic current-mode CMOS DC-DC converter with on-chip current-sensing technique , 2004, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[3]  Robert W. Erickson,et al.  Fundamentals of Power Electronics , 2001 .

[4]  Hoi Lee,et al.  A 5-MHz 91% peak-power-efficiency buck regulator with auto-selectable peak- and valley-current control , 2010, IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference 2010.

[5]  Seth R. Sanders,et al.  Converter IC for Cellular Phone Applications , 2004 .

[6]  Khai D. T. Ngo,et al.  Steady-state analysis and design of a switched-capacitor DC-DC converter , 1992, PESC '92 Record. 23rd Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.

[7]  D. Maksimović,et al.  Switched-capacitor DC/DC converter with resonant gate drive , 1996, PESC Record. 27th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.

[8]  Jian Sun,et al.  3D Power Delivery for Microprocessors and High-Performance ASICs , 2007, APEC 07 - Twenty-Second Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition.

[9]  Fred C. Lee,et al.  High Power Density, High Efficiency System Two-stage Power Architecture for Laptop Computers , 2006 .

[10]  D.J. Perreault,et al.  Merged two-stage power converterarchitecture with softcharging switched-capacitor energy transfer , 2008, 2008 IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.

[11]  A.V. Peterchev,et al.  A 4-/spl mu/a quiescent-current dual-mode digitally controlled buck converter IC for cellular phone applications , 2004, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[12]  Peng Xu,et al.  Critical inductance in voltage regulator modules , 2002, APEC. Seventeenth Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (Cat. No.02CH37335).

[13]  S. Narendra,et al.  A 233-MHz 80%-87% efficient four-phase DC-DC converter utilizing air-core inductors on package , 2005, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[14]  Adrian Ioinovici,et al.  Inductorless DC-to-DC converter with high power density , 1994, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron..

[15]  S.R. Sanders,et al.  Analysis and Optimization of Switched-Capacitor DC–DC Converters , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[16]  Fred C. Lee,et al.  Design of a 4 MHz, 5V to 1V monolithic voltage regulator chip , 2002, Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and Ics.

[17]  Elad Alon,et al.  Design Techniques for Fully Integrated Switched-Capacitor DC-DC Converters , 2011, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[18]  K. Harada,et al.  A Novel Three-Phase Buck Converter with Bootstrap Driver Circuit , 2007, 2007 IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.

[19]  S. Reynolds.  A DC-DC converter for short-channel CMOS technologies , 1997 .

[20]  F.C. Lee,et al.  Two novel soft-switched, high frequency, high-efficiency, non-isolated Voltage Regulators-the phase-shift buck converter and the matrix-transformer phase-buck converter , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[21]  M. S. Makowski,et al.  Performance limits of switched-capacitor DC-DC converters , 1995, Proceedings of PESC '95 - Power Electronics Specialist Conference.

[22]  Leon O. Chua,et al.  Topological generation and analysis of voltage multiplier circuits , 1977 .

[23]  Robert C. N. Pilawa-Podgurski,et al.  Architectures and circuits for low-voltage energy conversion and applications in renewable energy and power management , 2012 .

[24]  Oded Abutbul,et al.  Step-up switching-mode converter with high voltage gain using a switched-capacitor circuit , 2003 .

[25]  M. S. Makowski.  Realizability conditions and bounds on synthesis of switched-capacitor DC-DC voltage multiplier circuits , 1997 .

[26]  P. Hazucha,et al.  A 100MHz Eight-Phase Buck Converter Delivering 12A in 25mm2 Using Air-Core Inductors , 2007, APEC 07 - Twenty-Second Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition.

[27]  V. Yousefzadeh,et al.  Three-level buck converter for envelope tracking applications , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[28]  Youngkook Ahn,et al.  5-V Buck Converter Using 3.3-V Standard CMOS Process With Adaptive Power Transistor Driver Increasing Efficiency and Maximum Load Capacity , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[29]  Michael D. Seeman,et al.  A 32nm fully integrated reconfigurable switched-capacitor DC-DC converter delivering 0.55W/mm2 at 81% efficiency , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference - (ISSCC).