Bridge driver for a switching voltage regulator which is operable to soft-switch and hard-switch

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10651733-B2
Application number	US-201514810385-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 27, 2015
Priority date	Jun 27, 2012
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

Described is an apparatus which comprises: a low-side switch coupled to an output node for providing regulated voltage supply; and a first driver operable to cause the low-side switch to turn off when the output node rises above a first transistor threshold voltage. Described is also a voltage regulator which comprises: a signal generator to generate a pulse-width modulated (PWM) signal; a bridge having a low-side switch coupled to an output node for providing regulated voltage supply according to the PWM signal; a first driver operable to cause the low-side switch to turn off when the output node rises above a first transistor threshold voltage; and a bridge controller to provide control signals to the first driver. The voltage regulator may operate without diode clamps and its operation is self-timed. The voltage regulator also provides tolerance against process variation.

First claim

We claim:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a low-side switch having a first transistor with the low-side switch being coupled to an output node for providing regulated voltage supply; and
a first driver operable to cause the low-side switch to turn off when the output node rises above a first transistor threshold voltage of the first transistor of the low-side switch, wherein the first driver comprises an n-type driver, the n-type driver comprising a zero-voltage switching (ZVS) catch circuit which is operable to indirectly sense a voltage on the output node to turn on the low-side switch, a zero-current switching (ZCS) release circuit couple with the ZVS catch circuit by a transistor which is operable to indirectly sense a voltage on the output node to turn off the low-side switch, and an end pre-charge circuit to pre-charge a node driving the low-side switch.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprises:
a high-side switch coupled to the output node; and
a second driver operable to cause the high-side switch to turn on when either the output node reaches a second transistor threshold voltage or when a control signal causes the high-side switch to turn on.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the high-side switch comprises a cascode device including a first p-type transistor coupled to the output node and a second p-type transistor, wherein the second p-type transistor is driven by the second driver according to a voltage level on a node coupling the first p-type transistor to the second p-type transistor.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the second transistor threshold voltage corresponds to a threshold voltage of the first p-type transistor.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first driver operable to cause the low-side switch to turn on when the output node is substantially close to zero volts.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the low-side switch comprises a cascode device including the first transistor which is a first n-type transistor coupled to the output node and a second n-type transistor, wherein the second n-type transistor is driven by the first driver according to a voltage level on a node coupling the first n-type transistor to the second n-type transistor.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the first transistor threshold voltage corresponds to a threshold voltage of the first n-type transistor.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pre-charge circuit is operable to raise or keep substantially constant a voltage on the node driving the low-side switch to a voltage between ground and a threshold voltage of a transistor of the low-side switch.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first driver comprises an end-pre-charge circuit to terminate the operation of the pre-charge circuit.

10. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the second driver comprises a pre-charge circuit to pre-charge a node driving the high-side switch.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the pre-charge circuit is operable to lower or keep substantially constant a voltage on the node driving the high-side switch to a voltage between power supply and a threshold voltage of a transistor of the high-side switch.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the second driver comprises an end-pre-charge circuit to terminate the operation of the pre-charge circuit.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the output node is coupled to one end of an inductor which has another end coupled to a capacitor.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the other end coupled to the capacitor to provide regulated voltage supply to a circuit.

15. A voltage regulator comprising:
a signal generator to generate a pulse-width modulated (PWM) signal;
a bridge having a low-side switch that includes a first transistor with the low-side switch being coupled to an output node for providing regulated voltage supply according to the PWM signal;
a first driver operable to cause the low-side switch to turn off when the output node rises above a first transistor threshold voltage of the first transistor of the low-side switch, wherein the first driver comprises an n-type driver, the n-type driver comprising a zero-voltage switching (ZVS) catch circuit which is operable to indirectly sense a voltage on the output node to turn on the low-side switch, a zero-current switching (ZCS) release circuit couple with the ZVS catch circuit by a transistor which is operable to indirectly sense a voltage on the output node to turn off the low-side switch, and an end pre-charge circuit to pre-charge a node driving the low-side switch; and
a bridge controller to provide control signals to the first driver.

16. The voltage regulator of claim 15 , wherein the bridge comprises:
a high-side switch coupled to the output node.

17. The voltage regulator of claim 16 further comprises:
a second driver operable to cause the high-side switch to turn on when either the output node reaches a second transistor threshold voltage or when a control signal causes the high-side switch to turn on.

18. The voltage regulator of claim 16 , wherein the bridge controller to provide control signals to the second driver.

19. The voltage regulator of claim 17 , wherein the high-side switch comprises a cascode device including a first p-type transistor coupled to the output node and a second p-type transistor, wherein the second p-type transistor is driven by the second driver according to a voltage level on a node coupling the first p-type transistor to the second p-type transistor.

20. A system comprising:
a wireless interface; and
a processor, capable of communicating directly or indirectly with another device via the wireless interface, the processor including a voltage regulator,
a low-side switch having a first transistor with the low-side switch being coupled to an output node for providing regulated voltage supply; and
a first driver operable to cause the low-side switch to turn off when the output node rises above a first transistor threshold voltage of the first transistor of the low-side switch, wherein the first driver comprises an n-type driver, the n-type driver comprising a zero-voltage switching (ZVS) catch circuit which is operable to indirectly sense a voltage on the output node to turn on the low-side switch, a zero-current switching (ZCS) release circuit couple with the ZVS catch circuit by a transistor which is operable to indirectly sense a voltage on the output node to turn off the low-side switch, and an end pre-charge circuit to pre-charge a node driving the low-side switch.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the voltage regulator further comprises:
a high-side switch coupled to the output node; and
a second driver operable to cause the high-side switch to turn on when either the output node reaches a second transistor threshold voltage or when a control signal causes the high-side switch to turn on.

22. The system of claim 20 further comprises a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the processor comprises a plurality of hardware processing cores, and wherein at least one hardware processing core is coupled to the memory.

23. An apparatus comprising:
an end pre-charge circuit, upon activation, to pre-charge a node driving a low-side switch device of a voltage regulator;
an output node coupled to the low-side switch device, the low-side switch device to turn on when the output node transitions from an input voltage supply level to a voltage supply level between half of the input voltage sup

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Schrom Gerhard
• Milshtein Mark S
• Lyakhov Alexander

Classifications

• H02M3/1588 Primary

  comprising at least one synchronous rectifier element (H02M3/1582, H02M3/1584 take precedence) · CPC title

• H02M3/338

  in a self-oscillating arrangement (H02M3/337 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02M3/158 Primary

  including plural semiconductor devices as final control devices for a single load · CPC title

• H02M1/08

  Circuits specially adapted for the generation of control voltages for semiconductor devices incorporated in static converters · CPC title

• Y02B70/1466

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic