Imbalanced High-Current Multi-Phase Buck Converters for High-Performance CPUs
Imbalanced High-Current Multi-Phase Buck Converters for High-Performance CPUs
复制标题
适用于高性能 CPU 的不平衡大电流多相降压转换器
DOI：
10.1109/mwscas.2019.8885141
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发表时间：
2019
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
A. Fayed
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Manmeet Singh;A. Fayed
高性能CPU要求降压转换器具有高额定电流（4-12 A）、快速动态响应和宽负载范围内的高效率。用于实现这种降压转换器的最常见的方法是具有切相的传统多相拓扑，其中所有有源相在电感器、开关频率和总负载电流的份额方面是相同的，即平衡相。相反，本文建议使用不同的电感器、开关频率和每个单独相位（即不平衡相位）的总负载电流份额。这种方法通过独立选择电感器和每相的开关频率提供了额外的自由度，与传统的平衡多相设计相比，这能够在整个负载电流范围内实现更高的最大负载电流额定值和更高的效率。为了证明不平衡多相降压转换器在大电流应用中的可行性和优势，本文介绍了一款适用于高性能CPU的12 A 4相0.13 µm CMOS设计，并与采用相同工艺技术的三款传统平衡参考设计进行了比较。
High-performance CPUs require buck converters with high-current ratings (4-12 A), fast dynamic response, and high efficiency across a wide load range. The most common approach for realizing such buck converters is the conventional multi-phase topology with phase-shedding, where all the active phases are identical in terms of the inductor, the switching frequency, and the share of the total load current, i.e. balanced phases. Instead, this paper proposes using a different inductor, switching frequency, and share of the total load current for each individual phase, i.e. imbalanced phases. This approach provides additional degrees of freedom by the independent choice of the inductor and the switching frequency of each phase, which enables higher maximum load current rating and higher efficiency across the entire load current range compared to conventional balanced multi-phase designs. To demonstrate the viability and the advantages of imbalanced multi-phase buck converters in high-current application, a 12-A 4-phase design in 0.13-µm CMOS for high-performance CPUs is presented and compared to three conventional balanced reference designs in the same process technology.