Digital modular control of high frequency DC-DC converters

This paper presents a solution for controlling integrated DC-DC converters with high switching frequency ( > 20 MHz). The increase of the switching frequency is a trend biased by output filter volume restrictions and integration demand. The control of DC-DC converters operating at high frequency presents an opportunity to speed up the converter response time but also a challenge specially for the control solution, quiescent current and to limit the sensitivity to process and operating conditions for the mixed signal circuits involved. The solution presented in this work relies on separating the duty-cycle into three parts: a load-free value that depends only on the input and output voltages, a transient fast correction contribution, and an accurate compensation for the IR drop that depends on the load current. The load-free portion of the duty-cycle has a compensation of PVT variations and the fast transient part of the duty-cycle uses a non-linear sliding mode control solution. All the analog blocks required for the implementation of the proposed solution are detailed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.