Switching regulator and operating method
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsHyosang Youn, Minwoo Kim, Hyungju Park, Deokgi Lee, Changseok Chae
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A switching regulator generates an output voltage from an input voltage and includes; a charge sharing circuit that selectively forms one of a first charge sharing path between a first flying capacitor and a second bootstrap capacitor and a second charge sharing path between a second flying capacitor and a first bootstrap capacitor based on first and second conversion modes.
Claims19
A switching regulator that generates an output voltage from an input voltage, the switching regulator comprising:
- a first switching circuit including a first transistor, a first flying capacitor and a first bootstrap capacitor, wherein in a first conversion mode, the first transistor selectively connects a first node receiving the input voltage in response to a first switching control signal, and the first bootstrap capacitor boosts the first switching control signal;
- a second switching circuit including a second transistor, a second flying capacitor and a second bootstrap capacitor, wherein in a second conversion mode, the second transistor selectively connects a second node receiving the output voltage in response to a second switching control signal, and the second bootstrap capacitor boosts the second switching control signal;
- and
- a charge sharing circuit configured to selectively form at least one of a first charge sharing path between the first flying capacitor and the second bootstrap capacitor and a second charge sharing path between the second flying capacitor and the first bootstrap capacitor in response to one of the first conversion mode and the second conversion mode.
A switching regulator that generates an output voltage from an input voltage, the switching regulator comprising:
- a first transistor connected to a first node receiving the input voltage and alternately turned ON/OFF in a buck mode;
- a first bootstrap capacitor that boosts a gate voltage of the first transistor;
- a second transistor connected to a second node outputting the output voltage and continuously turned ON in the buck mode;
- a second bootstrap capacitor that boosts a gate voltage of the second transistor;
- and
- a first flying capacitor that shares charge with the second bootstrap capacitor in the buck mode, and
- a second flying capacitor that shares charge with the first bootstrap capacitor in the boost mode, wherein the first transistor is continuously turned ON in boost mode, and the second transistor is alternately turned ON/OFF in the boost mode.
An operating method for a switching regulator, the operating method comprising:
- disconnecting a first transistor from a first node receiving an input voltage during a first period in a buck mode;
- charging a first bootstrap capacitor and a first flying capacitor with the input voltage during the first period in the buck mode;
- connecting the first transistor to the first node during a second period in buck mode following the first period in the buck mode;
- boosting a gate voltage of the first transistor by the first bootstrap capacitor during the second period in the buck mode;
- and
- sharing charge with a second bootstrap capacitor using the first flying capacitor during the second period in the buck mode to boost a gate voltage of a second transistor connected to a second node outputting an output voltage of the switching regulator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.