A fully digital, energy-efficient, adaptive power-supply regulator

Abstract

A voltage scaling technique for energy-efficient operation requires an adaptive power-supply regulator to significantly reduce dynamic power consumption in synchronous digital circuits. A digitally controlled power converter that dynamically tracks circuit performance with a ring oscillator and regulates the supply voltage to the minimum required to operate at a desired frequency is presented. This paper investigates the issues involved in designing a fully digital power converter and describes a design fabricated in a MOSIS 0.8-/spl mu/m process. A variable-frequency digital controller design takes advantage of the power savings available through adaptive supply-voltage scaling and demonstrates converter efficiency greater than 90% over a dynamic range of regulated voltage levels.