Staggered Charge Pump Ripple Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional charge pump circuits with multiple charge pumps connected in parallel often lead to excessive ripple due to simultaneous turn-on, causing undesired noise that affects device performance, despite being over-designed to handle worst-case scenarios.
Innovation Solution
A charge pump circuit design featuring a master charge pump and multiple slave charge pumps with a staggered turn-on sequence, where the charge pumps are progressively enabled and disabled using a chain of registers and logic gates, and local regulators for rapid shutdown, reducing ripple and improving voltage regulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If multiple charge pumps are connected in parallel to handle worst-case current requirements, then current handling capability is improved, but ripple noise increases due to simultaneous turn-on of all charge pumps
Solution Approach 1:
The charge pump system is segmented into multiple independently controllable charge pump circuits, each with its own enable signal. This allows selective activation of individual charge pumps rather than simultaneous activation of all pumps, thereby maintaining current handling capability while reducing ripple noise through distributed operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the number of active charge pumps based on actual current requirements. Instead of statically enabling all charge pumps to meet worst-case scenarios, the enable signals allow the system to activate only the necessary number of charge pumps at any given time, optimizing the balance between current handling and ripple reduction.
2Reliability
If multiple charge pumps are included to ensure sufficient capacity under all conditions, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional control circuitry
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs feedback mechanisms where each charge pump circuit has an enable signal that responds to system conditions. This feedback-based control allows the system to maintain reliability by activating sufficient charge pumps when needed while avoiding unnecessary complexity through simple enable signal distribution rather than complex centralized control.
Solution Approach 2:
The enable signal mechanism serves multiple functions: it activates charge pumps, controls their operation, and allows selective disabling. This multi-functional approach reduces the need for separate control circuits for each charge pump, thereby maintaining reliability while minimizing additional complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A charge pump circuit may have multiple charge pumps. Each charge pump may have an output. The outputs of the charge pumps may be connected to a common output terminal for the charge pump circuit. The charge pump circuit may produce an output voltage at the output terminal. The output voltage may be monitored by a charge pump regulator circuit. The charge pump regulator circuit may produce a control signal based on the measured output voltage. The control signal may be processed by register and logic gating circuitry and may be used to generate a sequential set of slave charge pump enable signals. The slave charge pump enable signals may be used to sequentially enable the charge pumps to progressively increase the strength of the charge pump while exhibiting reduced ripple.