Active on-chip voltage regulator based on second generation current conveyor

Abstract

Voltage regulators are used to provide a stable power supply to the microprocessor. The conventional off-chip switching voltage regulator comprises of a passive floating inductor, which is difficult to be implemented inside the chip due to excessive power dissipation and parasitic effects. Additionally, the inductor takes very large chip area hampering the scaling down process. These limitations make passive inductor based on-chip regulator very unattractive for system-on-a-chip (SOC) and multi-/many-core environments. To facilitate complete on-chip integration of a voltage regulator this paper presents an active circuit technique to replace the passive inductor and emulate the inductive behavior required in a buck convertor. The proposed scheme combines a linear and a switching voltage regulator together in single active circuit. The amalgamation of the two regulators will obviate the need to use a physical inductor, instead utilize a second-generation current conveyor based active filter along with an inverter switch and a voltage follower current source. Design of the circuit is demonstrated using 0.5μm technology on Cadence Virtuoso tools. Simulation results and MATLAB plots are provided to verify the proposed design.