Passive Components Blog
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • NewsFilter
    • All
    • Aerospace & Defence
    • Antenna
    • Applications
    • Automotive
    • Capacitors
    • Circuit Protection Devices
    • electro-mechanical news
    • Filters
    • Fuses
    • Inductors
    • Industrial
    • Integrated Passives
    • inter-connect news
    • Market & Supply Chain
    • Market Insights
    • Medical
    • Modelling and Simulation
    • New Materials & Supply
    • New Technologies
    • Non-linear Passives
    • Oscillators
    • Passive Sensors News
    • Resistors
    • RF & Microwave
    • Telecommunication
    • Weekly Digest

    Bourns Unveils Metal Powder Core High Current Low DCR Shielded Power Inductor

    Influence of Tantalum Capacitor Pellets Size on Stability During Oxide Film Formation

    Modelithics Release Discrete Components Optimization Article for RF/Microwave Designers

    Samsung Extends Capacitance of MLCC 0805 X7T 250V to 100nF

    Samtec Releases 800-Position High-Performance Array Connectors  

    DigiKey Announces Back to School Giveaway to Empower Tomorrow’s Innovators

    Ripple Steering in Coupled Inductors: SEPIC Case

    TDK Releases Low Loss Thin-Film Inductors for AI Data Centers

    Samsung Releases Ultra–High-Capacitance 4.7uF 2.5V MLCC in 0201 for AI GPU

    Trending Tags

    • Ripple Current
    • RF
    • Leakage Current
    • Tantalum vs Ceramic
    • Snubber
    • Low ESR
    • Feedthrough
    • Derating
    • Dielectric Constant
    • New Products
    • Market Reports
  • VideoFilter
    • All
    • Antenna videos
    • Capacitor videos
    • Circuit Protection Video
    • Filter videos
    • Fuse videos
    • Inductor videos
    • Inter-Connect Video
    • Non-linear passives videos
    • Oscillator videos
    • Passive sensors videos
    • Resistor videos

    Ripple Steering in Coupled Inductors: SEPIC Case

    SEPIC Converter with Coupled and Uncoupled Inductors

    Coupled Inductors in SEPIC versus Flyback Converters

    Non-Linear MLCC Class II Capacitor Measurements Challenges

    Percolation Phenomenon and Reliability of Molded Power Inductors in DC/DC converters

    Root Causes and Effects of DC Bias and AC in Ceramic Capacitors

    How to Calculate the Output Capacitor for a Switching Power Supply

    Switched Capacitor Converter Explained

    Understanding Inductor Dot Markings and Their Application in LTspice

    Trending Tags

    • Capacitors explained
    • Inductors explained
    • Resistors explained
    • Filters explained
    • Application Video Guidelines
    • EMC
    • New Products
    • Ripple Current
    • Simulation
    • Tantalum vs Ceramic
  • Knowledge Blog
  • Suppliers
    • Who is Who
  • Events
  • Home
  • NewsFilter
    • All
    • Aerospace & Defence
    • Antenna
    • Applications
    • Automotive
    • Capacitors
    • Circuit Protection Devices
    • electro-mechanical news
    • Filters
    • Fuses
    • Inductors
    • Industrial
    • Integrated Passives
    • inter-connect news
    • Market & Supply Chain
    • Market Insights
    • Medical
    • Modelling and Simulation
    • New Materials & Supply
    • New Technologies
    • Non-linear Passives
    • Oscillators
    • Passive Sensors News
    • Resistors
    • RF & Microwave
    • Telecommunication
    • Weekly Digest

    Bourns Unveils Metal Powder Core High Current Low DCR Shielded Power Inductor

    Influence of Tantalum Capacitor Pellets Size on Stability During Oxide Film Formation

    Modelithics Release Discrete Components Optimization Article for RF/Microwave Designers

    Samsung Extends Capacitance of MLCC 0805 X7T 250V to 100nF

    Samtec Releases 800-Position High-Performance Array Connectors  

    DigiKey Announces Back to School Giveaway to Empower Tomorrow’s Innovators

    Ripple Steering in Coupled Inductors: SEPIC Case

    TDK Releases Low Loss Thin-Film Inductors for AI Data Centers

    Samsung Releases Ultra–High-Capacitance 4.7uF 2.5V MLCC in 0201 for AI GPU

    Trending Tags

    • Ripple Current
    • RF
    • Leakage Current
    • Tantalum vs Ceramic
    • Snubber
    • Low ESR
    • Feedthrough
    • Derating
    • Dielectric Constant
    • New Products
    • Market Reports
  • VideoFilter
    • All
    • Antenna videos
    • Capacitor videos
    • Circuit Protection Video
    • Filter videos
    • Fuse videos
    • Inductor videos
    • Inter-Connect Video
    • Non-linear passives videos
    • Oscillator videos
    • Passive sensors videos
    • Resistor videos

    Ripple Steering in Coupled Inductors: SEPIC Case

    SEPIC Converter with Coupled and Uncoupled Inductors

    Coupled Inductors in SEPIC versus Flyback Converters

    Non-Linear MLCC Class II Capacitor Measurements Challenges

    Percolation Phenomenon and Reliability of Molded Power Inductors in DC/DC converters

    Root Causes and Effects of DC Bias and AC in Ceramic Capacitors

    How to Calculate the Output Capacitor for a Switching Power Supply

    Switched Capacitor Converter Explained

    Understanding Inductor Dot Markings and Their Application in LTspice

    Trending Tags

    • Capacitors explained
    • Inductors explained
    • Resistors explained
    • Filters explained
    • Application Video Guidelines
    • EMC
    • New Products
    • Ripple Current
    • Simulation
    • Tantalum vs Ceramic
  • Knowledge Blog
  • Suppliers
    • Who is Who
  • Events
No Result
View All Result
Passive Components Blog
No Result
View All Result

Buck Regulators – Smaller, More Efficient DC-DC Converter Designs

24.8.2022
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A

DC-DC converters are fundamental building blocks used in electronics power management circuits. They convert one direct current (DC) voltage to another DC that is either a greater (step-up, boost) or lower (step-down, buck) voltage. Paul Golata, senior technology specialist at Mouser Electronics describes in his article published by TTI MarketEYE benefits of buck regulators as small, more efficient DC-DC converter designs.

Every part of an electronic design is like taking various building blocks and making them work together in harmony to accomplish the design goal. Electronic design engineers are always searching for further miniaturization of parts, increased functionality and higher reliability.

RelatedPosts

Bourns Unveils Metal Powder Core High Current Low DCR Shielded Power Inductor

Influence of Tantalum Capacitor Pellets Size on Stability During Oxide Film Formation

Modelithics Release Discrete Components Optimization Article for RF/Microwave Designers

Today’s leading suppliers offer buck regulators with smaller footprints and as much as a one-third reduction in height, with significant improvements in power efficiency, transient performance, and electromagnetic interference (EMI).

MOSFETs (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors) are commonly employed as electronic switches. Buck regulators often utilize internal power FETs. As part of the effort to simplify buck regulators and reduce their size, especially for output currents of less than 20A, many parts are offered with a controller and integrated FETs within one package.

A controller with an integrated FET can compromise efficiency because, in specifying for a wide range of applications, these FETs’ voltage ratings can be much higher than those needed for a given application, resulting in increased switching losses. In addition, the dimensioning of the FETs will almost certainly be sub-optimal for a specific duty cycle – a significant compromise, especially in low-duty cycle applications.

Packaging technology is deployed to reduce the size and squeeze every possible milliohm of parasitic losses from the powertrain to glean efficiency improvements. Integration of complete powertrains—control plus FETs, output inductor, and input/output filters—is impeded primarily by the physically large inductors that are still required.

Updates to power architecture from leading suppliers resolve many of these issues, allowing for switching frequencies that remain in the 1MHz to 2MHz range while reducing the amount of inductance required – and also improving overall power conversion efficiency.

The current source used in this style of component is, in effect, an inductor in a buck stage – a close approximation to a current source, used to absorb all of the charge redistribution losses typically made in the switch. Because this current source inductor can be in the output stage, the energy, rather than being lost, can be recycled as useful energy to the load.

In this manner, the recycled energy allows the series resistance of the charge pump switch (and associated parasitic impedances) to be as small as possible due to the fact that inrush current is no longer an issue. This also minimizes the charge redistribution losses in this part of the circuit. In terms of efficiency, a charge pump with this design is 97 percent to 99 percent more efficient.

The charge pump itself is also two-phased and interleaved, and presents to the input an almost 100 percent duty cycle. When contrasted with a traditional buck regulator, where the duty cycle might be only 10 percent, this makes a massive difference to the input current ripple and the amount of input filtering needed.

This approach to architecture also breaks down the whole voltage transition into many small voltage steps, executed across multiple input and output phases. Compared to single-stage buck designs, the net result is a much lower EMI signature for this architecture, for both conducted and radiated EMI. A major source of EMI in single-stage bucks is the inductor (V(t) = L * (di/dt)).

This type of DC/DC converter module is well-suited for use in PCIe/server applications, field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and digital signal processing (DSP), datacom/telecom systems, distributed bus architectures (DBA), programmable logic and mixed voltage systems. Select versions can also be used in I2C 6.0-compatible serial interfaces operating up to 1MHz.

This two-stage buck is an architectural innovation using standard off-the-shelf FETs in a very mature CMOS semiconductor process. Because the inductor is no longer the dominant component in the bill of materials, power conversion shrinks from occupying some 30 percent to 40 percent of a system’s circuit area to half of that, without compromising efficiency.

Furthermore, because the inductor usually is one of the tallest components in a system, this architecture allows for thinner solutions, improving packing density and enabling mobile devices to be slimmer.

Related article: How to Choose the Right Inductor for DC-DC Buck Applications

Related

Source: TTI MarketEYE

Recent Posts

Bourns Unveils Metal Powder Core High Current Low DCR Shielded Power Inductor

29.8.2025
3

Influence of Tantalum Capacitor Pellets Size on Stability During Oxide Film Formation

29.8.2025
10

Modelithics Release Discrete Components Optimization Article for RF/Microwave Designers

28.8.2025
10

DigiKey Announces Back to School Giveaway to Empower Tomorrow’s Innovators

27.8.2025
11

Ripple Steering in Coupled Inductors: SEPIC Case

27.8.2025
12

TDK Releases Low Loss Thin-Film Inductors for AI Data Centers

27.8.2025
10

SEPIC Converter with Coupled and Uncoupled Inductors

26.8.2025
20

Coupled Inductors in SEPIC versus Flyback Converters

26.8.2025
14

TDK Extends SMT Gate Drive Transformers to 1000 V

20.8.2025
21

Non-Linear MLCC Class II Capacitor Measurements Challenges

19.8.2025
45

Upcoming Events

Sep 3
15:30 - 17:30 CEST

How to Choose Your Magnetic Supplier

Sep 16
17:00 - 18:00 CEST

EMI Shielding Challenges

Sep 22
September 22 @ 13:00 - September 25 @ 15:15 EDT

Pre Cap Visual Inspection per Mil-Std-883 (TM 2017)

Sep 30
September 30 @ 12:00 - October 2 @ 14:00 EDT

MIL-Std-883 TM 2010

Oct 17
12:00 - 14:00 EDT

External Visual Inspection per MIL-STD-883 TM 2009

View Calendar

Popular Posts

  • Buck Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Boost Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Flyback Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • LLC Resonant Converter Design and Calculation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • What is a Dielectric Constant and DF of Plastic Materials?

    4 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 0
  • Ripple Current and its Effects on the Performance of Capacitors

    3 shares
    Share 3 Tweet 0
  • Dual Active Bridge (DAB) Topology Explained

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • How to Design an Inductor

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Core Materials, Permeability and Their Losses

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • MLCC Case Sizes Standards Explained

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter Subscription

 

Passive Components Blog

© EPCI - Leading Passive Components Educational and Information Site

  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • EPCI Membership & Advertisement
  • About

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Knowledge Blog
  • Premium Suppliers

© EPCI - Leading Passive Components Educational and Information Site

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Go to mobile version