Design of Power Management Integrated Circuits

Comprehensive resource on power management ICs affording new levels of functionality and applications with cost reduction in various fields

Design of Power Management Integrated Circuits is a comprehensive reference for power management IC design, covering the circuit design of main power management circuits like linear and switched-mode voltage regulators, along with sub-circuits such as power switches, gate drivers and their supply, level shifters, the error amplifier, current sensing, and control loop design. Circuits for protection and diagnostics, as well as aspects of the physical design like lateral and vertical power delivery, pin-out, floor planning, grounding/supply guidelines, and packaging, are also addressed. A full chapter is dedicated to the design of integrated passives. The text illustrates the application of power management integrated circuits (PMIC) to growth areas like computing, the Internet of Things, mobility, and renewable energy.

Includes numerous real-world examples, case studies, and exercises illustrating key design concepts and techniques.

Offering a unique insight into this rapidly evolving technology through the author’s experience developing PMICs in both the industrial and academic environment, Design of Power Management Integrated Circuits includes information on:

• Capacitive, inductive and hybrid DC-DC converters and their essential circuit blocks, covering error amplifiers, comparators, and ramp generators
• Sensing, protection, and diagnostics, covering thermal protection, inductive loads and clamping structures, under-voltage, reference and power-on reset generation
• Integrated MOS, MOM and MIM capacitors, integrated inductors
• Control loop design and PWM generation ensuring stability and fast transient response; subharmonic oscillations in current mode control (analysis and circuit design for slope compensation)
• DC behavior and DC-related circuit design, covering power efficiency, line and load regulation, error amplifier, dropout, and power transistor sizing
• Commonly used level shifters (including sizing rules) and cascaded (tapered) driver sizing and optimization guidelines
• Optimizing the physical design considering packaging, floor planning, EMI, pinout, PCB design and thermal design

Design of Power Management Integrated Circuits is an essential resource on the subject for circuit designers/IC designers, system engineers, and application engineers, along with advanced undergraduate students and graduate students in related programs of study.

Bernhard Wicht, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany.
Bernhard Wicht is a Full Professor of mixed-signal integrated circuit design at Leibniz University Hannover. Between 2003 and 2010, he was with Texas Instruments in Freising, Germany, responsible for the design of automotive power management ICs. He has been a member of the Technical Program Committee of the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) since 2018, serving as the chair of the Power Management subcommittee since 2023. He was a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society in 2020-2021.