Patent Description:
Recent improvements for DC power supply circuits are increasingly important in portable and battery powered devices. In such devices, a supply voltage is sometimes provided by an AC to DC transformer, or a "brick", which outputs a DC voltage (such as <NUM> or <NUM> volts) when AC power is available. Portable devices often also operate on similar DC voltages provided from rechargeable or other batteries when AC power is not available. Some portable devices may not have a "brick", but operate only from batteries. Electronics used within the portable devices typically include integrated circuits, such as a microprocessor, volatile or nonvolatile storage devices, digital radio or cellphone transceiver devices, and other functions such as Bluetooth, WiFi, and display drivers. The integrated circuit devices are increasingly designed to operate at lower and lower operating voltages, such as <NUM> volts DC or even lower. Lower operating voltages for integrated circuits consume less power and thus extend battery life. Other supply voltages, such as <NUM>. 3V or <NUM> V, are sometimes used. The system supply voltage from the batteries or the AC to DC transformer or "brick" is typically higher than the voltage needed by the electronic circuitry, so a DC-DC step down converter is used.

Switching power converter circuits are increasingly useful to provide the DC voltage and current for electronic devices. In the case of a "step down" switching converter, pulse width modulated ("PWM") converters in a "buck" configuration are often used. These PWM converter circuits are far more efficient and run cooler than the linear regulators used previously to provide the stepped down DC-DC voltage. In a buck converter, a high side switch (such as a MOS transistor) is coupled with its current conduction path between an input voltage terminal and a switching node. A pulse width modulated signal coupled to a gate terminal of the high side switch is useful to turn on or "close" the high side switch in an "on" state, and the pulse width modulated signal is useful to turn off or "open" the high side switch in an "off" state. These two states alternate in a relatively constant frequency pattern. The "duty cycle" of the converter is a ratio of the "on" time of the high side switch to the "off" time. An inductor is coupled between the switching node and an output terminal for the output voltage. An output capacitor is coupled between the output terminal and a ground terminal. By closing the high side switch for the "on" state time, and driving current into the inductor during the "on" state, and then subsequently opening the high side switch for the "off" state time, current flows into the inductor and into the load, and an output voltage is developed across the load that is supported by the output capacitor. A rectifying device is also coupled between the switching node and a ground potential. The rectifying device is useful to supply current into the inductor when the high side switch is open, which is the "off time" for the circuit. Increasingly, this rectifying device is replaced by a low side driver switch, although diode rectifiers are sometimes used. A synchronous switching converter topology is created by using a MOSFET transistor for both the high side switch and the low side switch (replacing the older diode rectifier). By using MOSFET transistors with low RDSon values, and by controlling the on and off times for the high side and low side switches, efficient DC-DC buck converter circuits are implemented.

In a switching buck converter that uses a constant frequency and a duty cycle with pulse width modulation, when output current is constantly flowing to the load, the DC output voltage obtained at the output terminal is directly proportional to the input DC voltage at the voltage input terminal. More specifically, the output voltage is proportional to the input voltage multiplied by the ratio of the high side switch on-time to the off-time. Accordingly, the DC output voltage is proportional to the duty cycle. Thus, by changing the pulse width of the "on" state, the output voltage may be varied to a desired value, and it may be regulated. An onboard or off board oscillator is typically used for obtaining a pulse source that clocks the circuit. For example, by using sense resistors or other current sensors at the output along with feedback control, the output voltage can then be regulated to a desired value by varying the width of the modulated pulse that closes the high side switch, thereby coupling the input voltage or a supply voltage to the switching node for the inductor. Additional circuitry is sometimes used for regulating the output during times when no current or low current is flowing into the load. For example, the circuit may switch to a pulsed frequency mode or otherwise skip cycles when light load conditions are present. As an example, <CIT>, entitled "Buck Converter having Reduced Ripple under Light Load", to Miyazaki, discloses circuitry for increasing the efficiency of a buck converter circuit when operating under light load.

While the buck converter is substantially more efficient than the previously used linear regulators to provide DC voltages, multiple phase buck converters are increasingly used in further improving buck converter performance. In a multiple phase buck converter, several switching circuit stages and corresponding inductors are coupled in parallel to one another, and these multiple stages are operated in non-overlapping phases. The multiple phase outputs are then simply added to form the overall output. Two, three, four or more phases and corresponding circuit stages may exist. However, the addition of the multiple phases increases the complexity of the control circuitry, so a design trade-off exists between the number of phases and the amount (and complexity) of the control circuitry.

Use of multiple phase converters advantageously decreases the undesirable ripple voltage at the output for single phase buck converters, and a multiphase buck converter also handles variations in the load current very well when compared to a single phase buck converter. The current demanded by a modern microprocessor will vary substantially, because modern microprocessors have many "sleep" and "power save" modes that are useful to reduce power during idle microprocessor cycles so extend the battery life of portable devices. Multiphase buck converters are therefore increasingly used, particularly for supplying DC voltages in microprocessor systems.

<FIG> is a block diagram of a typical multiphase buck converter circuit <NUM>. In <FIG>, a first stage switching circuit <NUM> includes a high side MOSFET switch <NUM>, which is an n-type MOSFET ("NMOS") transistor that is sufficiently large to provide the required or expected load current to the corresponding inductor L_1 during the "on" state. A high side driver circuit <NUM> is coupled to the gate terminal of the MOSFET switch <NUM>. The high side MOSFET switch <NUM> is coupled to switching node SW1, which is coupled to one terminal of inductor L_1. Further, in first stage switching circuit <NUM>, a low side switch <NUM>, which in this example is also an N type MOSFET device <NUM>, is coupled between the switch node SW1 and a ground terminal. Low side driver <NUM> controls low side switch <NUM> by controlling the voltage on the gate terminal of the low side switch <NUM>. During the "off" state of the switching circuit <NUM>, the low side switch <NUM> provides a current path to supply current to the inductor L_1.

In <FIG> the multiphase buck converter <NUM> has n phases, as indicated by the asterisks. In this example, two phases are shown. However, in practical systems, n can be any positive integer greater than or equal to two, and three and four and more phase buck converter systems are known for various applications. This is indicated in <FIG> by the asterisks in the column between the first stage inductor L_1 and the inductor for the bottom stage, labeled L_N.

In <FIG>, the second stage switching circuit <NUM> is coupled in parallel to the first stage switching circuit <NUM>. The circuit elements within second stage switching circuit <NUM> are duplicated from first stage switching circuit <NUM> and include a high side MOS switch <NUM>, which again can be an NMOS transistor, a high side driver circuit <NUM> coupled to the gate terminal of the high side MOS switch <NUM>, and a low side driver circuit <NUM> coupled to the gate terminal of the low side switch <NUM>. The switching circuit <NUM> is coupled to a switching node SWN, which is coupled to one terminal of the inductor L_N.

Driver control circuit <NUM> in <FIG> provides the control of the high side driver circuits <NUM> and <NUM>, and of low side driver circuits <NUM> and <NUM>. In operation, in a first phase, the high side MOS switch <NUM> is closed by driving a gate voltage onto the gate terminal from the high side driver circuit <NUM> that exceeds the source voltage by a transistor threshold voltage Vt for the high side MOS switch (transistor) <NUM>. This action "closes" the high side MOS switch <NUM> and couples the input voltage Vin to the switching node SW1. Current flows into the inductor L_1 and out to the output node, thereby charging capacitor CO, and the load current flows forming an output voltage at the output Vo. During this "on" state, inductor L_1 stores energy in a magnetic field surrounding the inductor. After the "on" state ends, the driver control circuit <NUM> controls the high side driver circuit <NUM> and turns off the high side MOSFET switch <NUM>, and the driver control circuit <NUM> controls low side driver circuit <NUM> and turns on the low side switch (MOSFET) <NUM>. The low side switch <NUM> provides a current path during the "off" state of the first stage switching circuit <NUM>, so that current flows through the inductor L_1 from the stored energy and into the capacitor CO and into the load (not shown) at the output terminal Vo, which supports the voltage at the output terminal Vo during the "off' state.

The second stage switching circuit <NUM> is operated in the same manner as the first stage switching circuit <NUM>, but the two stages are operated in non-overlapping phases. In this manner, the output current provided by the two phase switching circuits <NUM> and <NUM> is added at the output Vo, and together the two switching circuits <NUM> and <NUM> provide the current to the load. Driver control circuit <NUM> provides the pulses needed to turn on the high side driver circuits <NUM> and <NUM> for the high side MOS switches <NUM> and <NUM>, and to turn on the low side switches <NUM> and <NUM>, in non-overlapping phases.

To turn on the high side MOS switches <NUM> and <NUM>, a voltage at the gate terminal of the MOS transistors is needed higher than the input voltage. Tthis gate voltage has been formed using a bootstrap capacitor. Sometimes, this capacitor is referred to as a "fly cap", but this disclosure uses the term "bootstrap capacitor". The bootstrap capacitor is first configured with a top plate coupled to a positive supply voltage, such as an internally regulated voltage Vdd, and a bottom plate coupled to a ground potential. In this manner the bootstrap capacitor is charged to the supply voltage level. The bootstrap capacitor is later coupled, so that the bottom plate is at the positive input voltage VIN, and the top plate is coupled to the high side switch gate. The voltage at the high side switch gate is thus "bootstrapped" to a voltage that is the sum of the positive supply voltage and the input voltage VIN at the bottom plate. In this manner, the gate voltage for turning on the high side MOS switches <NUM>, <NUM> can be developed.

In a conventional multiple phase buck converter that uses a bootstrap capacitor to provide the needed gate voltage at the high side MOS switch, each switching circuit stage needs an individual bootstrap capacitor. Further, the high side switch devices, which are n-type MOSFET ("NMOS") transistors, have a large gate capacitance. The bootstrap capacitor required for each stage is therefore also relatively large, because it needs to charge the gate capacitor of the high side MOS switch. Accordingly, the use of a multiple phase buck converter configuration requires multiple large bootstrap capacitors. If these bootstrap capacitors are integrated with the high side switches and low side switches in a converter integrated circuit, the amount of silicon area required for the bootstrap capacitors may cause the multiple phase buck converter circuit to become too large for fabrication on a single device that is to be manufactured in a certain semiconductor process. Alternatively, if the bootstrap capacitors are instead provided as external components coupled to an integrated circuit, the use of the multiple bootstrap capacitors requires two external pins for each of these added components. The extra pins may undesirably increase pin count for the converter integrated circuit, and correspondingly increase packaging and other manufacturing costs. This may lead to a situation in which the needed pins are simply not available. Further, the use of multiple large external bootstrap capacitors undesirably increases the board area for implementing the multiple phase DC-DC buck converter. <CIT> discloses a control circuit for multiple high side switches. <CIT> discloses a method and an apparatus for high performance switch mode voltage regulators. <CIT> discloses an interconnect layer of a modularly designed analog integrated circuit.

In described examples, multiple phase buck converter circuits are implemented, including a shared bootstrap capacitor coupled to at least two high side switches. In one example, a buck converter for producing a DC output voltage from a DC input voltage includes n switching stages, each coupled to a corresponding switching node. In this example, each of the n switching stages also includes a high side MOS switch coupled between the positive input voltage and the corresponding switching node; a low side MOS switch coupled between the corresponding switching node and a ground terminal; an inductor corresponding to each of the n switching stages coupled in parallel between the corresponding switching node and an output terminal and configured for providing the DC output voltage; and high side driver circuitry for selectively coupling a shared bootstrap capacitor to a gate terminal of each of the high side MOS switches within each of the n switching stages. The bootstrap capacitor is configured to charge a gate capacitance of each of the high side MOS switches.

In another example, an integrated circuit configured to provide a DC to DC voltage converter in a buck configuration includes n switching stages having n switching node outputs. In this example, each of the n switching stages includes a high side NMOS switch device having a gate terminal and coupled between a positive input voltage and the corresponding switching node output; a low side NMOS switch device having a gate terminal and coupled between the corresponding switching node output and a ground terminal; a high side driver that selectively couples a top plate of a bootstrap capacitor to the gate terminal of the high side NMOS switch device responsive to a control input; and high side driver control circuitry coupled to the control input of the high side driver of each of the n switching stages. In this manner, the bootstrap capacitor is shared between the n switching stages.

In the above examples, n is a positive integer and greater than or equal to two, such as two, three, four and greater numbers.

In another example, a method includes coupling n switching stages to n switching output nodes. Each of the n switching stages includes a high side NMOS switch having a gate terminal and coupled between a positive input voltage and a corresponding one of the n switching output nodes. Also, each of the n switching stages further includes a low side NMOS switch coupled between the corresponding one of the switching output nodes and a ground potential. The method continues by charging a shared bootstrap capacitor by coupling a top plate of the bootstrap capacitor to a positive supply voltage, while coupling a bottom plate of the bootstrap capacitor to a ground potential; and subsequently coupling the bottom plate of the charged shared bootstrap capacitor to a positive input voltage, while simultaneously coupling the top plate of the charged shared bootstrap capacitor to a gate terminal of a selected one of the high side NMOS switch devices within a selected one of the n switching stages. In this manner, the shared bootstrap capacitor is operated to provide a voltage greater than the positive supply voltage on the gate terminal of the selected high side NMOS switch and thereby turn on the selected high side NMOS switch.

Embodiments provide an efficient multiple phase switching converter in a buck configuration that is applicable to a variety of applications where a DC output voltage is provided from a DC input voltage.

<FIG> is a simplified circuit diagram of the high side circuit portion <NUM> of a multiple phase buck converter of embodiments. In <FIG>, a first switching stage <NUM> includes the high side driver circuit <NUM> labeled "HSD_1", which is coupled to a node labeled "HSD_Gate_1" at the gate terminal of the high side MOS switch <NUM>, which is an NMOS transistor. The high side MOS switch <NUM> has its source to drain current path coupled between the input voltage Vin and a switching node SW1.

Further, in <FIG>, a second switching stage <NUM> includes the high side driver circuit <NUM> labeled "HSD_2", which is coupled to the node labeled "HSD_Gate_2" that is the gate terminal for high side MOS switch <NUM>. High side MOS switch <NUM> has its source to drain current path coupled between input voltage Vin and a switching node SW2. This example has n switching stages, with n = <NUM>. In other examples, n is an integer greater than <NUM>. Each of the n switching stages includes a high side MOS switch coupled to a corresponding switching node, and a high side driver circuit, such as in <FIG>.

Each of the switching nodes SW1, SW2 also has a corresponding inductor coupled to the switching node, shown in <FIG> as inductors <NUM> and <NUM> for stage <NUM> and stage <NUM>, respectively. The inductors <NUM>, <NUM> for each of the stages are coupled in parallel and to a voltage output node Vo, and an output capacitor (not shown) is also coupled to the voltage output node as discussed above.

The high side driver circuits <NUM> and <NUM> are controlled by the HSD Turn On Control circuit <NUM>. An HSD Turn Off Control circuit <NUM> discharges the gate terminals of the high side MOS switches <NUM> and <NUM> to turn off the MOS switches at the end of an "on" stage operation.

In <FIG>, a single bootstrap capacitor <NUM>, labeled CB, is coupled to the HSD Turn On Control circuit <NUM>, and also coupled to a Bootstrap Capacitor Charge circuit <NUM>. Advantageously, in embodiments, a shared bootstrap capacitor is used for the multiple switching stages. In sharp contrast to conventional approaches, the embodiments enable a single bootstrap capacitor to provide the boosted voltage required at the gate terminals of each of the high side MOS switches for each of the n switching stages of the multiphase buck converter. Because only a single bootstrap capacitor is needed, the silicon area needed to implement the multiphase converter is greatly reduced. Alternatively, if bootstrap capacitor <NUM> is coupled as an external circuit component, then the number of pins needed for the bootstrap function is only two. Use of a shared external bootstrap capacitor forms additional examples.

The size of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> is determined in part by the gate capacitance of the high side MOS switches, such as <NUM>, <NUM> in <FIG>. The bootstrap capacitor <NUM> must be sufficiently large to charge the gate capacitance of these n-type MOSFET ("NMOS") devices, which are also sized to be large enough to carry the current to the load from the positive input voltage Vin. In one example, the bootstrap capacitor has a value of <NUM> nanoFarads (<NUM> nF), which is relatively large for an integrated circuit capacitor. By using a single shared bootstrap capacitor for a multiple phase buck converter, embodiments advantageously overcome the deficiencies and disadvantages of conventional approaches.

In operation, buck converter circuit <NUM> of <FIG> performs an initial charging phase for the bootstrap capacitor <NUM>. During a bootstrap capacitor charging phase, the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> has a supply voltage (VDD) coupled to the top plate at node CB_HIGH, and a ground potential is coupled to the bottom plate at node CB_LOW until the bootstrap capacitor is charged to the supply voltage. The supply voltage may be provided by an internal voltage regulator, such as a low drop out regulator. Alternatively, the supply voltage VDD may be provided externally by a similar regulator circuit, or in yet another embodiment, the supply voltage may be provided directly from the positive input voltage Vin. Subsequently, in a high side driver turn on phase, the charged bootstrap capacitor <NUM> is decoupled from the supply voltage. The charged bootstrap capacitor <NUM> is then coupled with the bottom plate at node CB_LOW placed at a positive input voltage such as Vin, and the top plate at node CB_HIGH is coupled to the gate of a selected one of the high side MOS switches of one of the n switching stages. Because the bootstrap capacitor voltage is now added to the positive input voltage, the voltage at the gate terminal of the selected high side MOS switch is boosted or "bootstrapped" to a potential higher than the input voltage. Accordingly, the gate terminal receives the "bootstrapped" voltage that is the sum of the stored voltage stored on the capacitor and the positive input voltage Vin that is now placed at the bottom plate of the charged bootstrap capacitor. The high side MOS switch gate capacitance is thus charged with the bootstrapped voltage. This action turns on the high side MOS switch, which in this example is an NMOS transistor. For example, to couple the top plate of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> to the gate terminal of the high side MOS switch <NUM>, high side driver circuit <NUM> (labeled HSD_1) is controlled by the HSD Turn On Control circuit <NUM>.

Following the turn on of the selected high side MOS driver, the MOS switches <NUM>, <NUM> will remain on (or closed, to use switch terminology) until the gate capacitance is discharged by the HSD Turn Off Control circuit <NUM>. Meanwhile, the HSD Turn On Control circuit <NUM> can decouple the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> CB from the selected switching stage, by controlling the high side driver circuit such as <NUM>. Bootstrap Capacitor Charge circuit <NUM> can then again perform a capacitor charging phase to recharge the bootstrap capacitor <NUM>. The high side driver turn-on sequence is then repeated for another switching stage, in this example using high side driver circuit <NUM>, so the single bootstrap capacitor <NUM> CB is shared among the n switching stages. Surprisingly, the need for individual bootstrap capacitors for each switching stage, as required in conventional approaches, is advantageously eliminated by use of the embodiments. The elimination of the individual bootstrap capacitors for each phase of the multiple phase buck converter saves silicon area, and advantageously reduces the component count for the circuitry.

In <FIG>, a portion of an example implementation for a high side driver <NUM> is shown in a circuit diagram. High side driver circuits <NUM> and <NUM> are coupled to high side MOS switch gate nodes that are labeled HSD_Gate_1 and HSD_Gate <NUM>, respectively. These gate signals are then coupled to the gate terminals of the high side MOS switches (not shown here, for simplicity) as described above with respect to <FIG>. The high side driver circuits <NUM> and <NUM> are controlled by the TURN-ON MASTER and TURN-ON SLAVE circuits <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively. In <FIG>, another circuit <NUM> labeled "HSD TURN-ON" outputs a control signal labeled "HSD_TURNON". A shared bootstrap capacitor <NUM> is coupled as described above. In this example, the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> has a value of <NUM> nF. However the bootstrap capacitor value can vary greatly depending on the application. The size of the bootstrap capacitor is determined by the gate capacitance of the high side MOS switch transistors, which is proportional to the size of the MOS switch transistors. The size of the MOS switch transistors is large enough to supply the current needed from the positive input voltage Vin to the load. These examples allow a single large bootstrap capacitor to be shared among many stages of a multiphase converter, which advantageously allows surprisingly large capacitor values to be used on an integrated circuit, or surprisingly limits the number of pins needed for external capacitors for an integrated circuit that implements a multiphase converter.

In the example of <FIG>, the high side driver circuits <NUM> and <NUM> are each advantageously implemented using a pair of back to back, series coupled NMOS transistors. Several advantages are achieved by using these NMOS transistors as the high side driver circuits. The series coupled NMOS pair provides an efficient way to decouple the bootstrap capacitor from the gate of the high side MOS switches, without discharging the gate capacitance of the high side MOS switches. In this manner, the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> can be recharged by decoupling it from the gate of the high side MOS switch, while the high side MOS switch is still turned on, and without disturbing the gate capacitance charge at the high side MOS switch. This advantageously allows recharge of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> in preparation for use in driving the next stage of the switching circuits during an "on" state of the high side MOS switch. Further, in some operations, the high side switch may be closed more or less continuously, and use of the back to back series coupled NMOS pair advantageously allows the high side MOS switch to remain turned on, or closed, even while the bootstrap capacitor is simultaneously being recharged.

The high side driver circuits <NUM> and <NUM> require a turn on voltage that is greater than a NMOS transistor threshold voltage, multiplied times two, over the supply voltage. In the example of <FIG>, this turn on voltage is advantageously created using a second shared bootstrap capacitor circuit. Capacitor <NUM>, which in this example has a value of <NUM> picoFarads (pF) has a bottom plate at node VBOOSTL and a top plate at node VBOOSTH. In this example, this capacitor <NUM> is also shared. The top plate at node VBOOSTH is coupled to each of the turn on circuits <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM>. A pair of transistors <NUM> and <NUM> selectively couples the capacitor <NUM> between a positive supply voltage VDD and a ground terminal. During a capacitor charge phase, the capacitor <NUM> is charged to the supply voltage, which is VDD_7V or <NUM> volts in this example. Later: (a) the bottom plate of the capacitor <NUM>, labeled VBOOSTL, may be coupled by the transistor <NUM> to the top plate of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM>, labeled CB_HIGH; and (b) the top plate of capacitor <NUM>, labeled VBOOSTH, is then raised to a voltage greater than CB_HIGH. During a turn on phase, CB_HIGH is greater than the supply voltage, so the voltage VBOOSTH is raised to still a greater voltage, and turns on the selected high side driver circuit <NUM>, <NUM>. The use of the back to back series coupled NMOS transistors in the high side driver circuits <NUM>, <NUM> achieves fast switching to quickly couple the gate of the high side switches, at nodes HSD_Gate_1 and HSD_Gate_2, to the top plate of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM>. The selected one of the high side driver circuits <NUM>, <NUM> will turn on immediately when the top plate of the capacitor <NUM> begins to rise. The high side driver circuits <NUM>, <NUM> provide a low resistance current path with little loss. Further, the high side driver circuits <NUM>, <NUM> allow the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> to be isolated from the high side switch NMOS devices while the high side switch NMOS devices are still active, allowing recharging of the bootstrap capacitor even during an "on" state. This advantageously enables the use of the bootstrap capacitor, even if the high side switches are on continuously, such as during <NUM>% duty cycle operations.

In <FIG>, Bootstrap Capacitor Charge circuit <NUM> couples the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> between a positive supply voltage and a ground potential during a capacitor charging phase. In <FIG>, this internally regulated voltage is labeled VDD_7V, and is approximately seven volts. However, other internal and external supply voltages could be used instead. Alternatively, the positive input voltage at the input voltage terminal Vin could be used. Subsequently: (a) the bottom plate of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM>, labeled CB_LOW, is coupled to the input voltage Vin; and (b) the top plate of the bootstrap capacitor, labeled CB_HIGH, is coupled to one of the high side MOS switch gate terminals HSD_Gate_1 or HSD_Gate_2, by the respective one of the high side driver circuits <NUM>, <NUM>.

<FIG> is a timing diagram for selected nodes of the high side driver circuit <NUM> of <FIG>. In <FIG>, the top trace corresponds to the voltage at the node labeled HSD_Gate_1 in <FIG>, which is coupled to the gate terminal of a high side MOS switch (not shown in <FIG>). The second trace from the top corresponds to the signal HSD_TURNON in <FIG>, which is output by the HSD TURN-ON circuit <NUM>. The third trace from the top corresponds to the top plate of the capacitor <NUM>, labeled VBOOSTH in <FIG>. The fourth trace from the top corresponds to node CB_HIGH, the top plate of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> in <FIG>. The fifth trace from the top of <FIG> corresponds to the node labeled TURNON_M in <FIG>, which controls the high side driver circuit <NUM>. The sixth trace from the top of <FIG> corresponds to the node CB_LOW in <FIG>, which is the bottom plate of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM>. The bottom trace in <FIG> corresponds to the node VBOOST_L in <FIG>, which is the bottom plate of the capacitor <NUM>.

In <FIG>, the timing diagram illustrates the high side driver circuit <NUM> of <FIG> operating over two cycles. Time (in microseconds) is displayed on the horizontal axis, and is shown at the bottom of <FIG>. A capacitor charge phase is shown at time <NUM>. The bottom plate of the bootstrap capacitor, CB_LOW, is approximately zero volts (ground). The top plate of the bootstrap capacitor CB_HIGH is at the internal VDD supply voltage or approximately <NUM> volts during the same time period. Similarly, the bottom plate of the capacitor <NUM>, VBOOSTL, is approximately zero volts at time <NUM>. The top plate of the capacitor <NUM>, VBOOSTH, is approximately <NUM> volts at the same time. Thus, the two capacitors are charged to the internal supply voltage level during the capacitor charge phase.

At time <NUM> on the horizontal scale, a high side driver turn on phase begins. The control signal HSD_TURNON is output by the HSD TURNON circuit <NUM> in <FIG>. The Bootstrap Capacitor Charge circuit <NUM> then couples the input voltage Vin to the bottom plate of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM>, node CB_LOW, which rises to that voltage. In this example, CB_LOW rises to approximately <NUM> volts at time <NUM>. Node CB_HIGH in <FIG> illustrates the voltage at the top plate of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM>, and it now rises to the bootstrapped voltage of approximately <NUM> volts at time <NUM>.

The second shared capacitor <NUM> also provides a boosted voltage. As shown in the timing diagram, the bottom plate of capacitor <NUM>, node VBOOSTL in <FIG>, is raised to the same voltage as node CB_HIGH at time <NUM>. In <FIG>, transistor <NUM> couples the bottom plate of capacitor <NUM> to the node CB_HIGH in response to a high voltage on control signal HSD _TURNON as shown in <FIG>. At time <NUM> in <FIG>, node VBOOSTH rises to the boosted level of approximately <NUM> volts. In <FIG>, node TURNON_M rises at time <NUM> in response to the signal VBOOSTH rising. This boosted voltage is coupled to the shared gate terminal of the series coupled NMOS transistors within the high side driver circuit <NUM>, and turns them on. In <FIG>, the output signal HSD_Gate_1 rises to a high voltage at time <NUM> in response to the control signal TURNON_M rising at the gate terminal of the high side driver circuit <NUM>.

At time <NUM> in <FIG>, the control signal HSD _TURNON falls. The bootstrap capacitor and the capacitor <NUM> then both enter a charge phase again. The control signal TURNON_M also falls at time <NUM>. However, the gate signal HSD_Gate_1 remains high until time <NUM>. The gate capacitance of the high side MOS switch is large enough to keep the gate charged after the high side driver <NUM> is turned off. In this manner, these examples advantageously allow a charge phase of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> to begin, even while the high side MOS switch is still turned on.

In <FIG>, a second phase operation is illustrated at time <NUM>. However, in this operation, the control signal TURNON_M does not rise in response. This is because this second phase operation is for the gate signal HSD_GATE_2 in <FIG>, which is not plotted in the timing diagram in <FIG>. In this manner, the shared bootstrap capacitor <NUM> and the capacitor <NUM> are used for each of the n switching stages, and each of these capacitors is shared among the stages. At time <NUM>, the pattern repeats. Two complete cycles are shown in the timing diagram of <FIG>.

<FIG> shows an example implementation for a Bootstrap Capacitor Charge circuit <NUM>, similar to circuit <NUM> in <FIG>. Other circuit implementations could be arranged for use with these examples.

In <FIG>, the circuit <NUM> has input signals HSD_CHARGE and HSD TURNON. For example, when the HSD _CHARGE signal is low, the gate of transistor <NUM> is at a high voltage due to the operation of inverter <NUM>. The bottom plate of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> is thus coupled to ground by transistor <NUM>. Similarly, the node CB_CHARGE at the gate of transistor is at a high level, so the transistor <NUM> therefore couples the supply voltage VDD_7V to the top plate of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM>, CB_HIGH. In this manner, the bootstrap capacitor is charged. The signal CB_CHARGE is also high at this time, as shown in <FIG>; this signal is useful to enable charging of the second bootstrap capacitor such as <NUM> in <FIG>.

In <FIG>, the HSD _TURNON signal is coupled to another back to back series coupled pair of NMOS transistors <NUM>. When the control input signal HSD_TURNON is at a high voltage, the voltage at the gate of transistor <NUM> is coupled by the circuit <NUM> to the voltage at CB_HIGH and will begin to turn on. Voltage VIN is then coupled to the bottom plate of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM>, and the top plate CB_HIGH will be then be "bootstrapped" to the higher voltage, the sum of voltage VIN and supply voltage VDD_7V, as discussed above.

When the control signal HSD _CHARGE in <FIG> rises, indicating a high side driver turn on phase is beginning, the transistors <NUM> and <NUM> will have a low signal at the gate inputs, and these transistors will turn off and isolate the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> from the voltage VDD_7V and the ground terminal. When the signal HSD _TURNON goes high, the bottom plate of the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> will rise to the voltage VIN, and the top plate of the capacitor <NUM> will rise to the bootstrapped voltage as described above. By first coupling the bootstrap capacitor to the supply voltage, charging the bootstrap capacitor, and then decoupling the bootstrap capacitor from the supply voltage, and then coupling the bottom plate to the input voltage VIN, the circuit <NUM> efficiently provides a bootstrapped voltage at the node CB_HIGH.

<FIG> is a block diagram of an integrated circuit <NUM> for forming a two phase step down buck converter <NUM>, in an example that incorporates an integrated shared bootstrap capacitor as described above. The two phases are indicated by the two switching nodes SW1 and SW2, which are coupled to the inductors <NUM> and <NUM> that drive the output at node Vo. In this example, the integrated circuit <NUM> is configured to provide an output voltage of <NUM> volts with <NUM> amps of current from a range of input voltages that can vary from <NUM>-<NUM> volts as indicated in <FIG>.

<FIG> is a block diagram of an integrated circuit <NUM> for forming a two phase step down buck converter <NUM>, in an example that uses an external component capacitor for the shared bootstrap capacitor described above. In <FIG>, the two phases are indicated by the two switching node outputs SW1 and SW2 of the integrated circuit <NUM>. Inductors <NUM> and <NUM> are coupled in parallel to supply current to the output node Vo. The output is configured to be <NUM>. 3V as in <FIG>. In this example configuration, an input voltage range is <NUM>-<NUM> volts. In <FIG>, the capacitor <NUM> is the bootstrap capacitor. In this example, the integrated circuit <NUM> is configured to use an external bootstrap capacitor, instead of the integrated bootstrap capacitor of <FIG>. The terminals CB_HIGH and CB_LOW correspond to these nodes in the circuits shown in <FIG>, <FIG> and <FIG>. The operation of the circuitry is not otherwise impacted by using an external component as the bootstrap capacitor. In the example of <FIG>, the buck converter circuit <NUM> shares the bootstrap capacitor <NUM> over the two switching stages corresponding to switching nodes SW1, SW2. In other examples, more switching stages are used, and the bootstrap capacitor is shared over multiple stages. Accordingly, in <FIG>, the indice "n" is equal to two. However, n may be a positive integer that is greater than or equal to two, including three, four or more stages.

<FIG> is a flow diagram of a method that begins at step <NUM>, where the indice n is set equal to <NUM>. In step <NUM>, a bootstrap capacitor charge phase is performed, and a bootstrap capacitor is charged to a supply voltage. In step <NUM>, a high side driver turn on phase begins. The charged bootstrap capacitor has a bottom plate coupled to a positive input voltage to create a bootstrapped voltage. At step <NUM>, the top plate of the charged bootstrap capacitor is coupled to the gate terminal of a selected high side MOS switch for the "nth" switching stage. At step <NUM>, a decision is made about whether all stages have been performed. If additional switching stages remain to be performed, the method continues to step <NUM>, and the bootstrap capacitor is decoupled from the high side switch. In step <NUM>, the indice n is incremented to advance the method to the next stage. The method of <FIG> then repeats the bootstrap capacitor charge phase and the high side driver turn on phase for each of the "n" stages. For example, in a two stage case, n begins at <NUM>, the method is performed for the first stage, the indice "n" is incremented to <NUM>, the method is performed for the second stage, and the method then ends.

Claim 1:
A buck converter for producing a DC output voltage from a DC input voltage, comprising:
n switching stages (<NUM>, <NUM>), wherein n is an integer greater or equal to two;
an output terminal (Vo);
a bootstrap capacitor (<NUM>, <NUM>); and
a high side driver turn on control circuitry (<NUM>, <NUM>), each of the n switching stages (<NUM>, <NUM>) further comprising:
a high side MOS switch (<NUM>, <NUM>) coupled between an input terminal for a positive input voltage (Vin) and a switching node (SW1, SW2);
an inductor (<NUM>, <NUM>) coupled between the switching node (SW1, SW2) and the output terminal (Vo); and
a high side driver (<NUM>, <NUM>; <NUM>, <NUM>), comprising:
a gate-connection terminal; and
a pair of back to back NMOS transistors coupled between a top plate of the bootstrap capacitor (<NUM>, <NUM>) and
a gate terminal of the high side MOS switch (<NUM>, <NUM>), wherein a gate terminal of each of the back to back NMOS transistors is connected to the gate-connection terminal,
wherein the high side driver turn on control circuitry (<NUM>, <NUM>) is connected to the gate-connection terminal of the high side driver (<NUM>, <NUM>; <NUM>, <NUM>) of each of the n switching stages (<NUM>, <NUM>) and is configured to select the high side driver (<NUM>, <NUM>; <NUM>, <NUM>) of one of the n switching stages (<NUM>, <NUM>); and
wherein the selected high side driver (<NUM>, <NUM>; <NUM>, <NUM>) is configured, upon selection, to couple the bootstrap capacitor (<NUM>, <NUM>) to a gate terminal of the respective high side MOS switch (<NUM>, <NUM>), wherein the bootstrap capacitor (<NUM>, <NUM>) is configured to charge a gate capacitance of the respective high side MOS switch (<NUM>, <NUM>).