This course is intended to develop understanding of why power management circuits are needed in a VLSI system, what are the different components of a power management system with focus on voltage regulators. By the end of this course, students should be able to understand the concept behind power management circuits and design a linear (LDO) and switching regulator (dc-dc converter) for a given specifications using behavioral and circuit level simulators.INTENDED AUDIENCE : Final year undergraduate, graduate, PhD students in Electrical/Electronic Engineering. Faculty teaching or intended to teach course on analog IC design and/or power management IC Industry professionals working in the area of analog IC design, VLSI, power management ICs. PREREQUISITES : Analog Circuits or equivalent or industry experience in analog circuit designINDUSTRY SUPPORT : Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Intel, Sankalp Semiconductor, NXP Semiconductors, ST Microelectronics, Samsung, Microchip, ON semiconductor, Infineon, Renesas, Analog Devices
Overview
Syllabus
Week 1 :Introduction to Power Management - Application, Need, Discrete vs. Integrated PMIC; DC-DC Converters, Types of DC-DC Converters, Linear versus Switching Regulator, Choosing between Linear and Switching Regulators, Choosing the Type of Regulator in a Multi-Chip System; Performance Parameters - Efficiency, Accuracy, Line and Load Regulation, Line and Load Transient, PSRR; Remote versus Local Feedback, Point-of-Load Regulator, Kelvin Sensing, Droop Compensation; Current Regulators and their Applications; Bandgap Voltage Reference - Designing a Bandgap Reference using PTAT and CTAT Voltage References, Brokaw Bandgap Circuit.
Week 2 :Sub-1-volt Bandgap Reference; Introduction to Linear Regulator, Applications of Linear Regulator; Review of Feedback Systems and Bode Plots, Loop Gain AC Analysis, Stability Criterion and Phase Margin, Review of First-Order and Second-Order Systems, Relationship between Damping Factor and Phase Margin; Parasitic Capacitances in a MOS transistor, Finding the Poles of the Error Amplifier; Stabilising a Linear Regulator - Frequency Compensation Techniques, Dominant Pole Compensation.
Week 3 : Miller Compensation, R.H.P. zero due to Miller Compensation, Intuitive Methods of Determining Poles and Zeros after Miller Compensation, Pole Splitting due to Miller Compensation, Reducing the Effect of R.H.P. zero; LDO with NMOS Pass Element; Load Regulation and Output Impedance of LDO; Line Regulation and PSRR of LDO; Sources of Error in a Regulator.
Week 4 :Static Offset Correction, Dynamic Offset Cancellation;Digital LDO, Avoidance of Limit-Cycle Oscillations in a Digital LDO, Hybrid LDO; Short-Circuit Protection and Foldback Current Limit in an LDO; Basic Concept of a Switching Regulator, Inductor volt-second Balance, Power Stage of a Buck Converter and Calculation of Duty Cycle; Transformer Model of a Buck Converter, Resistive Losses, Efficiency of a Switching Regulator, Efficiency considering only Conduction Losses; Synchronous and Non-Synchronous Switching Converters; PWM Control Techniques (Voltage-Mode and Current-Mode Control); Losses in Switching DC-DC Converter- Conduction Loss, Gate-Driver Switching Loss, Segmented Power FETs, Dead-Time Switching Loss.
Week 5 : Hard Switching Loss, Magnetic Loss, Relative Significance of Losses as a Function of the Load Current; Inductor Current Ripple and Output Voltage Ripple in a DC-DC Converter, Ripple Voltage versus Duty Cycle, Ripple Voltage versus Input Supply Voltage; Choosing the Inductor and Capacitor of a Buck Converter; Continuous and Discontinuous Conduction Modes - Boundary Condition, Voltage Conversion Ratio in DCM; Concept of Pulse Frequency Modulation (PFM); Classification of Pulse Width Modulators -- Trailing, Leading and Dual-Edge PW Modulators; Control Techniques for DC-DC Converters; Voltage Mode Control, Small-Signal Modeling of a DC-DC Converter, Loop Gain and Stability Analysis using Continuous-Time Model.
Week 6 : Compensating a Voltage-Mode-Controlled Buck Converter; Designing Type-I (Integral), Type-II (PI) and Type-III (PID) Compensators; Implementation of Compensators using Op Amp-RC and Gm-C Architectures, Finding Compensation Parameters; Design Examples with Simulation Demonstrations.
Week 7 : Designing Type-III Compensator using Gm-C Architecture and Design Example; Ramp Generator with Feed-Forward Line Compensation, Loop Gain Compensation via Gm-modulation; Designing a Buck Converter - Power Loss Budgeting, Sizing of Power FETs, Estimation of Switching Losses and Choice of Switching Frequency, Choosing the External Passive Components (L and C); Choice of C in Relation to Factors that Limit the Load Transient Response; Inductor and Capacitor Characteristics, Reducing the Effect of Capacitor ESL.
Week 8 : Designing the Gate-Driver (Gate Buffer and Non-Overlap Clock Generator), Designing the Ramp Generator in a Pulse-Width Modulator, Design Considerations of the Error Amplifier; Delays Associated with Pulse-Width Modulators; PFM/PSM for Light Load, Using PSM in CCM to Avoid Duty Cycle Saturation; DCM Operation using an NFET; Designing a Zero-Cross Detector/Comparator; Introduction to Current Mode Control; Peak, Valley and Average CMC; Sub-Harmonic Oscillations, Avoiding Current Loop Instability via Slope Compensation in a Current-Mode-Controlled Buck Converter.
Week 9 :Non-Linear Control Techniques for DC-DC Converters; Hysteretic Control - Stability Issues due to Phase Shift between Inductor Current and Capacitor Voltage; Voltage-Mode versus Current-Mode Hysteretic Control, Stabilising a Voltage-Mode-Controlled Hysteretic Converter using R_esr, Relation between Hysteresis Window and Switching Frequency, Using R-C Circuit as Ripple Generator in a Current-Mode-Controlled Hysteretic Converter, Hybrid Voltage-Mode and Current-Mode Hysteretic Control, Fixed-Frequency Hysteretic Control, Effect of Loop Delay, Frequency-Regulation and Voltage-Regulation Loops in a Fixed-Frequency Hysteretic Converter; Constant ON/OFF-Time Control; Basic Concept of a Boost Converter, RHP zero in a Boost Converter.
Week 10 :Introduction to the Buck-Boost Converter, Tri-Mode Buck-Boost Converter, Boundary Conditions for Mode Transition in a Tri-Mode Buck-Boost Converter, Generation of Buck and Boost Duty Cycles; Introduction to Switched-Capacitor DC-DC Converters, Applications of SC DC-DC Converters in Open-Loop, Output Regulation in SC DC-DC Converters using Feedback Control, H-Bridge SC DC-DC Converter, Multiple Gain Settings in SC DC-DC Converters; Current-Sensing Techniques in DC-DC converters.
Week 11 : Selecting the Process Node for a PMIC, Chip-Level Layout and Placement Guidelines, Board-Level Layout Guidelines, EMI Considerations; Introduction to Advanced Topics in Power Management --- Digitally-Controlled DC-DC Converters, Adaptive Compensation Techniques, Limitations of Analogue and Digital Controllers, Time-Based Control Techniques and their Drawbacks, Multi-Phase DC-DC Converters; Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS); Single-Inductor Multiple-Output (SIMO) DC-DC Converters.
Week 12 :Introduction to Advanced Topics in Power Management (continued) - DC-DC Converters for LED Lighting, LCD/AMOLED Display Drivers, LED Drivers for Camera Flash, Lithium-ion Battery and its Charging Phases, Battery Charger ICs.
Week 2 :Sub-1-volt Bandgap Reference; Introduction to Linear Regulator, Applications of Linear Regulator; Review of Feedback Systems and Bode Plots, Loop Gain AC Analysis, Stability Criterion and Phase Margin, Review of First-Order and Second-Order Systems, Relationship between Damping Factor and Phase Margin; Parasitic Capacitances in a MOS transistor, Finding the Poles of the Error Amplifier; Stabilising a Linear Regulator - Frequency Compensation Techniques, Dominant Pole Compensation.
Week 3 : Miller Compensation, R.H.P. zero due to Miller Compensation, Intuitive Methods of Determining Poles and Zeros after Miller Compensation, Pole Splitting due to Miller Compensation, Reducing the Effect of R.H.P. zero; LDO with NMOS Pass Element; Load Regulation and Output Impedance of LDO; Line Regulation and PSRR of LDO; Sources of Error in a Regulator.
Week 4 :Static Offset Correction, Dynamic Offset Cancellation;Digital LDO, Avoidance of Limit-Cycle Oscillations in a Digital LDO, Hybrid LDO; Short-Circuit Protection and Foldback Current Limit in an LDO; Basic Concept of a Switching Regulator, Inductor volt-second Balance, Power Stage of a Buck Converter and Calculation of Duty Cycle; Transformer Model of a Buck Converter, Resistive Losses, Efficiency of a Switching Regulator, Efficiency considering only Conduction Losses; Synchronous and Non-Synchronous Switching Converters; PWM Control Techniques (Voltage-Mode and Current-Mode Control); Losses in Switching DC-DC Converter- Conduction Loss, Gate-Driver Switching Loss, Segmented Power FETs, Dead-Time Switching Loss.
Week 5 : Hard Switching Loss, Magnetic Loss, Relative Significance of Losses as a Function of the Load Current; Inductor Current Ripple and Output Voltage Ripple in a DC-DC Converter, Ripple Voltage versus Duty Cycle, Ripple Voltage versus Input Supply Voltage; Choosing the Inductor and Capacitor of a Buck Converter; Continuous and Discontinuous Conduction Modes - Boundary Condition, Voltage Conversion Ratio in DCM; Concept of Pulse Frequency Modulation (PFM); Classification of Pulse Width Modulators -- Trailing, Leading and Dual-Edge PW Modulators; Control Techniques for DC-DC Converters; Voltage Mode Control, Small-Signal Modeling of a DC-DC Converter, Loop Gain and Stability Analysis using Continuous-Time Model.
Week 6 : Compensating a Voltage-Mode-Controlled Buck Converter; Designing Type-I (Integral), Type-II (PI) and Type-III (PID) Compensators; Implementation of Compensators using Op Amp-RC and Gm-C Architectures, Finding Compensation Parameters; Design Examples with Simulation Demonstrations.
Week 7 : Designing Type-III Compensator using Gm-C Architecture and Design Example; Ramp Generator with Feed-Forward Line Compensation, Loop Gain Compensation via Gm-modulation; Designing a Buck Converter - Power Loss Budgeting, Sizing of Power FETs, Estimation of Switching Losses and Choice of Switching Frequency, Choosing the External Passive Components (L and C); Choice of C in Relation to Factors that Limit the Load Transient Response; Inductor and Capacitor Characteristics, Reducing the Effect of Capacitor ESL.
Week 8 : Designing the Gate-Driver (Gate Buffer and Non-Overlap Clock Generator), Designing the Ramp Generator in a Pulse-Width Modulator, Design Considerations of the Error Amplifier; Delays Associated with Pulse-Width Modulators; PFM/PSM for Light Load, Using PSM in CCM to Avoid Duty Cycle Saturation; DCM Operation using an NFET; Designing a Zero-Cross Detector/Comparator; Introduction to Current Mode Control; Peak, Valley and Average CMC; Sub-Harmonic Oscillations, Avoiding Current Loop Instability via Slope Compensation in a Current-Mode-Controlled Buck Converter.
Week 9 :Non-Linear Control Techniques for DC-DC Converters; Hysteretic Control - Stability Issues due to Phase Shift between Inductor Current and Capacitor Voltage; Voltage-Mode versus Current-Mode Hysteretic Control, Stabilising a Voltage-Mode-Controlled Hysteretic Converter using R_esr, Relation between Hysteresis Window and Switching Frequency, Using R-C Circuit as Ripple Generator in a Current-Mode-Controlled Hysteretic Converter, Hybrid Voltage-Mode and Current-Mode Hysteretic Control, Fixed-Frequency Hysteretic Control, Effect of Loop Delay, Frequency-Regulation and Voltage-Regulation Loops in a Fixed-Frequency Hysteretic Converter; Constant ON/OFF-Time Control; Basic Concept of a Boost Converter, RHP zero in a Boost Converter.
Week 10 :Introduction to the Buck-Boost Converter, Tri-Mode Buck-Boost Converter, Boundary Conditions for Mode Transition in a Tri-Mode Buck-Boost Converter, Generation of Buck and Boost Duty Cycles; Introduction to Switched-Capacitor DC-DC Converters, Applications of SC DC-DC Converters in Open-Loop, Output Regulation in SC DC-DC Converters using Feedback Control, H-Bridge SC DC-DC Converter, Multiple Gain Settings in SC DC-DC Converters; Current-Sensing Techniques in DC-DC converters.
Week 11 : Selecting the Process Node for a PMIC, Chip-Level Layout and Placement Guidelines, Board-Level Layout Guidelines, EMI Considerations; Introduction to Advanced Topics in Power Management --- Digitally-Controlled DC-DC Converters, Adaptive Compensation Techniques, Limitations of Analogue and Digital Controllers, Time-Based Control Techniques and their Drawbacks, Multi-Phase DC-DC Converters; Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS); Single-Inductor Multiple-Output (SIMO) DC-DC Converters.
Week 12 :Introduction to Advanced Topics in Power Management (continued) - DC-DC Converters for LED Lighting, LCD/AMOLED Display Drivers, LED Drivers for Camera Flash, Lithium-ion Battery and its Charging Phases, Battery Charger ICs.
Taught by
Prof. Qadeer Ahmad Khan
