Power Management Integrated Circuits

By Prof. Qadeer Ahmad Khan | IIT Madras

Learners enrolled: 1303

This course is intended to develop understanding of why power management circuits are needed in a VLSI system, what are the different components of a power management system with focus on voltage regulators. By the end of this course, students should be able to understand the concept behind power management circuits and design a linear (LDO) and switching regulator (dc-dc converter) for a given specifications using behavioral and circuit level simulators.

INTENDED AUDIENCE : Final year undergraduate, graduate, PhD students in Electrical/Electronic Engineering. Faculty teaching or intended to teach course on analog IC design and/or power management IC Industry professionals working in the area of analog IC design, VLSI, power management ICs.

PREREQUISITES : Analog Circuits or equivalent or industry experience in analog circuit design

INDUSTRY SUPPORT : Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Intel, Sankalp Semiconductor, NXP Semiconductors, ST Microelectronics, Samsung, Microchip, ON semiconductor, Infineon, Renesas, Analog Devices

Summary

Course Status :	Completed
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering VLSI design Power Systems and Power Electronics
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	24 Jan 2022
End Date :	15 Apr 2022
Enrollment Ends :	07 Feb 2022
Exam Date :	24 Apr 2022 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1 : Introduction to Power Management - Application, Need, Discrete vs. Integrated PMIC; DC-DC Converters, Types of DC-DC Converters, Linear versus Switching Regulator, Choosing between Linear and Switching Regulators, Choosing the Type of Regulator in a Multi-Chip System; Performance Parameters - Efficiency, Accuracy, Line and Load Regulation, Line and Load Transient, PSRR; Remote versus Local Feedback, Point-of-Load Regulator, Kelvin Sensing, Droop Compensation; Current Regulators and their Applications; Bandgap Voltage Reference - Designing a Bandgap Reference using PTAT and CTAT Voltage References, Brokaw Bandgap Circuit.

Week 2 :Sub-1-volt Bandgap Reference; Introduction to Linear Regulator, Applications of Linear Regulator; Review of Feedback Systems and Bode Plots, Loop Gain AC Analysis, Stability Criterion and Phase Margin, Review of First-Order and Second-Order Systems, Relationship between Damping Factor and Phase Margin; Parasitic Capacitances in a MOS transistor, Finding the Poles of the Error Amplifier; Stabilising a Linear Regulator - Frequency Compensation Techniques, Dominant Pole Compensation.

Week 3 : Miller Compensation, R.H.P. zero due to Miller Compensation, Intuitive Methods of Determining Poles and Zeros after Miller Compensation, Pole Splitting due to Miller Compensation, Reducing the Effect of R.H.P. zero; LDO with NMOS Pass Element; Load Regulation and Output Impedance of LDO; Line Regulation and PSRR of LDO; Sources of Error in a Regulator.

Week 4 : Static Offset Correction, Dynamic Offset Cancellation; Digital LDO, Avoidance of Limit-Cycle Oscillations in a Digital LDO, Hybrid LDO; Short-Circuit Protection and Foldback Current Limit in an LDO; Basic Concept of a Switching Regulator, Inductor volt-second Balance, Power Stage of a Buck Converter and Calculation of Duty Cycle; Transformer Model of a Buck Converter, Resistive Losses, Efficiency of a Switching Regulator, Efficiency considering only Conduction Losses; Synchronous and Non-Synchronous Switching Converters; PWM Control Techniques (Voltage-Mode and Current-Mode Control); Losses in Switching DC-DC Converter- Conduction Loss, Gate-Driver Switching Loss, Segmented Power FETs, Dead-Time Switching Loss.

Week 5 : Hard Switching Loss, Magnetic Loss, Relative Significance of Losses as a Function of the Load Current; Inductor Current Ripple and Output Voltage Ripple in a DC-DC Converter, Ripple Voltage versus Duty Cycle, Ripple Voltage versus Input Supply Voltage; Choosing the Inductor and Capacitor of a Buck Converter; Continuous and Discontinuous Conduction Modes - Boundary Condition, Voltage Conversion Ratio in DCM; Concept of Pulse Frequency Modulation (PFM); Classification of Pulse Width Modulators -- Trailing, Leading and Dual-Edge PW Modulators; Control Techniques for DC-DC Converters; Voltage Mode Control, Small-Signal Modeling of a DC-DC Converter, Loop Gain and Stability Analysis using Continuous-Time Model.

Week 6 : Compensating a Voltage-Mode-Controlled Buck Converter; Designing Type-I (Integral), Type-II (PI) and Type-III (PID) Compensators; Implementation of Compensators using Op Amp-RC and Gm-C Architectures, Finding Compensation Parameters; Design Examples with Simulation Demonstrations.

Week 7 : Designing Type-III Compensator using Gm-C Architecture and Design Example; Ramp Generator with Feed-Forward Line Compensation, Loop Gain Compensation via Gm-modulation; Designing a Buck Converter - Power Loss Budgeting, Sizing of Power FETs, Estimation of Switching Losses and Choice of Switching Frequency, Choosing the External Passive Components (L and C); Choice of C in Relation to Factors that Limit the Load Transient Response; Inductor and Capacitor Characteristics, Reducing the Effect of Capacitor ESL.

Week 8 : Designing the Gate-Driver (Gate Buffer and Non-Overlap Clock Generator), Designing the Ramp Generator in a Pulse-Width Modulator, Design Considerations of the Error Amplifier; Delays Associated with Pulse-Width Modulators; PFM/PSM for Light Load, Using PSM in CCM to Avoid Duty Cycle Saturation; DCM Operation using an NFET; Designing a Zero-Cross Detector/Comparator; Introduction to Current Mode Control; Peak, Valley and Average CMC; Sub-Harmonic Oscillations, Avoiding Current Loop Instability via Slope Compensation in a Current-Mode-Controlled Buck Converter.

Week 9 :Non-Linear Control Techniques for DC-DC Converters; Hysteretic Control - Stability Issues due to Phase Shift between Inductor Current and Capacitor Voltage; Voltage-Mode versus Current-Mode Hysteretic Control, Stabilising a Voltage-Mode-Controlled Hysteretic Converter using R_esr, Relation between Hysteresis Window and Switching Frequency, Using R-C Circuit as Ripple Generator in a Current-Mode-Controlled Hysteretic Converter, Hybrid Voltage-Mode and Current-Mode Hysteretic Control, Fixed-Frequency Hysteretic Control, Effect of Loop Delay, Frequency-Regulation and Voltage-Regulation Loops in a Fixed-Frequency Hysteretic Converter; Constant ON/OFF-Time Control; Basic Concept of a Boost Converter, RHP zero in a Boost Converter.

Week 10 : Introduction to the Buck-Boost Converter, Tri-Mode Buck-Boost Converter, Boundary Conditions for Mode Transition in a Tri-Mode Buck-Boost Converter, Generation of Buck and Boost Duty Cycles; Introduction to Switched-Capacitor DC-DC Converters, Applications of SC DC-DC Converters in Open-Loop, Output Regulation in SC DC-DC Converters using Feedback Control, H-Bridge SC DC-DC Converter, Multiple Gain Settings in SC DC-DC Converters; Current-Sensing Techniques in DC-DC converters.

Week 11 : Selecting the Process Node for a PMIC, Chip-Level Layout and Placement Guidelines, Board-Level Layout Guidelines, EMI Considerations; Introduction to Advanced Topics in Power Management --- Digitally-Controlled DC-DC Converters, Adaptive Compensation Techniques, Limitations of Analogue and Digital Controllers, Time-Based Control Techniques and their Drawbacks, Multi-Phase DC-DC Converters; Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS); Single-Inductor Multiple-Output (SIMO) DC-DC Converters.

Week 12 : Introduction to Advanced Topics in Power Management (continued) - DC-DC Converters for LED Lighting, LCD/AMOLED Display Drivers, LED Drivers for Camera Flash, Lithium-ion Battery and its Charging Phases, Battery Charger ICs.

Books and references

1. Switch-Mode Power Supplies: SPICE Simulations and Practical Designs by Christophe P. Basso, McGraw-Hill Professional, 2008.
2. Fundamentals of Power Electronics, 2nd edition by Robert W. Erickson, Dragan Maksimovic, Springer, 2001.
3. Power Management Techniques for Integrated Circuit Design By Ke-Horng Chen, Wiley-Blackwell, 2016.
4. Design of Analog CMOS Integrated Circuits by Behzad Razavi, McGraw-Hill, 2017.

Instructor bio

Prof. Qadeer Ahmad Khan

IIT Madras

Dr. Qadeer Khan is an assistant professor in the Integrated Circuits and System group of the department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He received the Bachelor's degree in electronics and communication engineering from Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India, in 1999 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Oregon State University, USA in 2012. His Ph.D. work was focused on developing novel control techniques for high performance switching dc-dc converters. From 2012 to 2015, he worked as a Staff Engineer, Power Management Systems with Qualcomm, San Diego and from 2015 to 2016 with Qualcomm, Bangalore where he was involved in defining system and architecture of various power management modules for snapdragon chipsets catering to different smartphone markets. From 1999 to 2005, he worked with Motorola and Freescale Semiconductor, India, where his main responsibilities were designing mixed-signal circuits for baseband and network processors and full-chip integrated solutions for high-voltage motor drives. Dr. Qadeer Khan holds 18 U.S. patents and authored/co-authored over 20 IEEE publications in the area of analog, mixed-signal and power management ICs. He serves as reviewer of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration Systems, IEEE Transaction on Power Electronics and IEEE Power Electronics Letters.His research interests involve high-performance linear regulators, LDOs, switching dc-dc converters and power management ICs for portable electronics and energy harvesting

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: 24 April 2022 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Madras .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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