Tutorial: Basics of Digital Low-Dropout (LDO) Integrated Voltage Regulator

Systems-on-chips incorporate integrated low-dropout (LDO) voltage regulators (VRs) to improve energy efficiency by allowing each core on a shared input voltage rail to operate at a unique voltage. LDOs enable compact size, low cost, and relatively simple integration. This tutorial introduces the key trade-offs between analog and digital LDOs and covers the primary specifications. Finally, this tutorial presents a wide range of state-of-the-art digital LDOs while highlighting the key design trade-offs.