High power-density buck converter enables 10-MHz V regulation

The industry’s first 12-V, 10-A, 10-MHz series capacitor-buck converter that achieves more than 50 A/cm³ in current density, which is four times higher than any other 12-V power management component or solution available today. The TPS54A20 SWIFT synchronous dc/dc converter topology enables high-frequency operation at up to 5 MHz/phase without special magnetics or compound semiconductors. The design consumes 50% less area than similar 500-kHz dc/dc converter designs.

The device features a two-phase, series-capacitor dc/dc buck topology that merges a switched-capacitor circuit (used for discrete time signal processing moves charges in/out of capacitors as switches are open/closed) with a multiphase buck converter. For an introduction, watch the video “How to decrease inductor size in a 10-A DC/DC converter design” and read the white paper, “Breakthrough power delivery for space-constrained applications.” Also, read the application note “Introduction to the Series Capacitor Buck Converter” that analyzes the technology and presents example results for a 12-V input, 1.2-V/10-A output applications.