A Dynamically Reconfigurable Recursive Switched- Capacitor DC–DC Converter With Adaptive Load Ability Enhancement

Multiple voltage conversion ratio (VCR) recursive switched-capacitor (SC) dc–dc converters, based on several basic 2:1 converters, are widely used for on-chip power supplies due to their flexible VCRs for higher energy efficiency. However, conventional multiple VCR SC converters usually have one or more 2:1 converters unused for some VCRs, which results in lower power density and chip area wastage. This article presents a new recursive dc–dc converter system, which can dynamically reconfigure the connection of all on-chip 2:1 converter cells so that the unused converters in the conventional designs can be reused in this new architecture for increasing the load-driving capacity, power density, and power efficiency. To validate the design, a 4-bit-input 15-ratio system was designed and fabricated in a 180-nm BCD process, which can support a maximum load current of
$\text{0.71}\,\text{mA}$
and achieves a peak power efficiency of 93.1% with
$105.3\,\mu \text{A/mm}^{2}$
chip power density from a 2-V input power supply. The measurement results show that the load-driving capacity can become 6.826×, 2.236×, and 2.175× larger than the conventional topology when the VCR is 1/2, 1/4, and 3/4, respectively. In addition, the power efficiency under these specific VCRs can also be improved considerably.