A 200-MHz Integrated Buck Converter With Resonant Gate Drivers for an RF Power Amplifier

High switching frequency dc-dc converters are present in many applications where wide regulation bandwidth and high efficiency are needed. A resonant gate driver is presented for improvement of efficiency at light-to-medium load conditions. Gate power losses that are a main contributor to total losses are reduced thanks to energy recovery. A testchip designed in 0.25- BiCMOS shows as much as a 30% decrease in power losses compared to a conventional driver at 200-MHz switching frequency. The proposed resonant gate driver is fully integrated with its inductor unlike earlier works. The limitation in the reduction of gate losses is detailed and confirmed experimentally.