Session 3-1

A High Efficiency DC-DC Converter Using 2nH On-Chip Inductors

 

Abstract

Historically buck converters have relied on high-Q inductors of 1 to 100uH to achieve high efficiency. In this paper we exploit on-chip magnetic coupling in the purposed stacked interleaved topology to enable high efficiency buck converters to be realized with 2nH moderate-Q on-chip inductors. The measured conversion efficiency for a prototype circuit implemented in 130-nm CMOS was over double that of a linear converter for low output voltages rising to 77.9% for a 0.9V output.