This paper presents an analytical and experimental comparison of a two-phase buck converter and a two-phase, series capacitor buck converter. The limitations of a conventional buck converter in high current (10 A or more), high frequency (3-30 MHz) point-of-load voltage regulators with large voltage conversion ratios (10-to-1) are highlighted. The series capacitor buck converter exhibits desirable characteristics at high frequency including lower switching loss, less inductor current ripple, automatic phase current balancing, duty ratio extension, and soft charging of the energy transfer capacitor. Analysis of the topologies indicates that switching loss and inductor core loss can dominate at high frequency. Results from side-by-side 12 V input, 1.2 V output hardware prototypes demonstrate that the series capacitor buck converter has up to 12 percentage points higher efficiency at 3 MHz and reduces power loss by up to 33% at full load (10 A). Some guidelines for inductor selection are provided, and a switch stress comparison reveals that the maximum converter switch stress is reduced by 30%.Index Terms-series capacitor buck converter, high frequency voltage regulator, integrated power converter, switched capacitor converter
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.