A Multiphase Switched-Capacitor DC-DC Converter Ring With Fast Transient Response and Small Ripple

A fully integrated step-down switched-capacitor dc-dc converter ring with 123 phases has been designed that could achieve fast dynamic voltage scaling for the microprocessor of wearable devices. The symmetrical multiphase converter ring surrounds its load in the square and supplies power to the on-chip power grid that is easily accessible at any point of the chip edges. The frequency of the V-DD-controlled oscillator is adjusted through its supply voltage V-DD, which allows the unity-gain frequency to be designed higher than the switching frequency. The converter ring has been fabricated in a low-leakage 65-nm CMOS process. This converter achieves a response time of 3 ns, a reference tracking speed of 2.5 V/mu s, and a minimum output ripple of 2.2 mV. The peak efficiency is 80% at the power density of 66.6 mW/mm(2), and the maximum power density is 180 mW/mm(2).