New insights on multiphase synchronous buck converter design: A comprehensive consideration

This paper comprehensively discusses the multiphase power converter design and introduces new control schemes in dynamic operations, which are now used to supply the power for modern Multi-Core processor (MCP) and multiprocessor System-on-Chip (MPSoC). With the aggressive motivation to boost dynamic power efficiency, the design specification of the VR is pushing the physical limitation of the multiphase converter design and the component stress as well. In this paper, the operation modes and PWM drive interface to achieve phase shedding are first illustrated. Robust driver operation is ensured when exiting the tri-state for long time. Nonlinear control scheme is introduce to minimize the voltage excursion during load transient. CdV/dt compensation for removing the AVP effect and novel nonlinear control scheme for smooth transition are proposed for dealing with fast voltage positioning. For experimental verification, a 400 W six phase synchronous buck converter is implemented with the proposed schemes.