Driving a capacitive load without dissipating fCV/sup 2/

Abstract

Output pad drivers often contribute a large part of the total power dissipation of a chip, due to the large capacitive load they drive. Here, we describe a driver capable of significant reduction of this dissipation, for given values of voltage swing, load capacitance, and switching frequency, without performance loss. We accomplish this by stepwise charging, an inductor-free form of adiabatic charging.