KOR

e-Article

An Outphase-Interleaved Switched-Capacitor Hybrid Buck Converter With Relieved Capacitor Inrush Current and COUT-Free Operations
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of. 59(4):1078-1092 Apr, 2024
Subject
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Computing and Processing
Inductors
Topology
Switches
Inrush current
Voltage
Capacitors
Discharges (electric)
Capacitor inrush current
hybrid buck
inductor current reduction
ON-chip gate driver (GD)
output capacitor free
Language
ISSN
0018-9200
1558-173X
Abstract
This article presents an efficient buck converter design using the proposed outphase-interleaved hybrid switched-capacitor (OISC) topology. The outphase-interleaved switched-capacitor (SC) cells significantly extend the $C_{\mathrm {F}}$ charge-balancing phase without disturbing the inductor volt-second balance (VSB), while doubling the effective inductor switching frequency for reduced current ripple. As a result, it addresses the intrinsic issue of sharply increased flying capacitor ( $C_{\mathrm {F}}$ ) inrush current in existing SC dual-/multi-path (DP/MP) hybrid buck converters under extreme duty ratios, resolving the tradeoff between SC cell conduction loss and inductor dc current ( $I_{L,\mathrm {dc}}$ ) reduction capability. The proposed topology attains three key advantages: 1) relived $C_{\mathrm {F}}$ hard-charging-induced inrush current; 2) reduced $I_{L,\mathrm {dc}}$ ; and 3) power stage normal operation without relying on an output capacitor $(C_{\mathrm {OUT}})$ , resulting in improved conversion efficiency and power density. To enhance the overall power density and mitigate gate-driving path ringing, we propose an area-efficient fully ON-chip gate-driving scheme with a shared charge pump (CP), ensuring proper operations with all-NMOS power switches. Fabricated in a 180-nm CMOS process with 7.63 mm2 chip area, the converter achieves a peak conversion efficiency of 97.3% and an overall peak current density of 585 mA/mm3 at 90.1% efficiency. Supporting a load current ( $I_{\mathrm {LOAD}}$ ) from 0.05 to 3.1 A, it converts 1.8–3.3 V input to 0.8–1.8 V output. Measured output voltage ( $V_{\mathrm {OUT}}$ ) ripple is ~3.3% of $V_{\mathrm {OUT}}$ dc under 3.1 A $I_{\mathrm {LOAD}}$ with zero $C_{\mathrm {OUT}}$ .