A high efficiency boost DC-DC converter with low voltage start-up

Journal Information

J. Hefei Univ. Tech. (Nat. Sci.), Jul. 2026, Vol. 49 No. 7: 882-888, 897

DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1003-5060.2026.07.003

Authors

YAN Tingting $ ^{1,2} $, YIN Yongsheng $ ^{1,2} $, XIANG Hongyu $ ^{1,2} $,

(1. School of Microelectronics, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230601, China; 2. IC Design Web-cooperation Research Center of Ministry of Education, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230601, China)

Abstract and Keywords

Abstract: In this paper, a high efficiency boost DC-DC converter with low voltage start-up is designed based on TSMC 180 nm CMOS process. The converter mainly consists of modules such as ring oscillator, low voltage start-up circuit, error comparator, zero current detector circuit, current limiting circuit, drive circuit and pulse frequency modulation (PFM) control logic. The circuit adopts PFM mode to achieve high efficiency under light load. Through the energy transfer characteristics of the body diode, the boost converter can start at low voltage, and a zero current detector circuit is designed to make the boost converter more efficient. The simulation results on Cadence Spectre platform show that the start-up voltage of the boost converter is as low as 0.8 V, the peak efficiency is 96.5% in the full load range, the load adjustment rate is 0.007%, and the linear adjustment rate is 0.540%.

Keywords: low voltage start-up; high efficiency; pulse frequency modulation (PFM) control mode; boost converter

作者信息

闫亭亭 $ ^{1,2} $，尹勇生 $ ^{1,2} $，向鸿宇 $ ^{1,2} $，杨增辉 $ ^{1,2} $，刘雪剑 $ ^{1,2} $，邓红辉 $ ^{1,2} $

(1. 合肥工业大学微电子学院，安徽合肥 230601；2. 合肥工业大学教育部IC设计网上合作研究中心，安徽合肥 230601)

摘要和关键词

摘要: 文章基于 TSMC 180 nm CMOS 工艺设计了一种低压启动且高效率的 Boost 型 DC-DC 转换器。该转换器主要包括环形振荡器、低压启动电路、误差比较器、过零检测电路、限流电路、驱动电路以及脉冲频率调制(pulse frequency modulation, PFM)控制逻辑等模块，采用 PFM 控制模式，以实现轻载下的高效率；利用本体二极管的能量转移特性，实现 Boost 转换器的低压启动；并设计了一种新颖的过零检测电路，使 Boost 转换器具有更高的效率。在 Cadence Spectre 平台上的仿真验证结果表明，该 Boost 转换器的启动电压低至 0.8 V，在全负载范围内峰值效率达 96.5%，负载调整率为 0.007%，线性调整率为 0.540%。

关键词: 低压启动；高效率；PFM控制模式；Boost转换器

Funding

安徽省重点研究与开发计划资助项目（202104g01020008）

合肥工业大学学报(自然科学版)

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