Patent ID: 8436601

Claim:
A DC-DC converter with a high-side power transistor and a low-side power transistor connected in series between supply terminals to which an input supply voltage is applied, an inductor being connected between an interconnection node of the power transistors and an output terminal to which a load is connected, comprising: a comparator comparing the output voltage at the output terminal with a reference voltage; an inductor current detector detecting when inductor current approaches zero; a minimum ON timer configured to determine a minimum ON time of the high-side power transistor optimized for a particular value of the inductor; a back-gate current detector for detecting current flow in the back-gate diode of the low-side power transistor; an override timer configured to determine an overriding ON time in response to the back-gate current detector; and control logic providing control signals to gate drivers for the power transistors in response to an output from the comparator and in response to the longer one of the minimum ON time and the overriding ON time, whereby the minimum ON time for the high-side power transistor is adjusted in response to the actual inductance value of a connected inductor.