Politecnico di Torino | Servizi per la didattica

KEYWORD

Design of a SAR Digitizing Error Amplifier for digitally controlled Power Converters

azienda Thesis in external company

keywords ADCS, ANALOG IC DESIGN, BCD TECHNOLOGY, IC DESIGN, MICROELECTRONICS, SAR ADC

Reference persons PAOLO STEFANO CROVETTI

External reference persons Vanni Poletto (STMicroelectronics)

Research Groups Advanced AMS and Power ICs (Polito) - STMicroelectronics (Castelletto)

Thesis type EXPERIMENTAL - DESIGN

Description Digital control is now becoming more and more popular in power converters for automotive applications due to its versatility, low cost and high performance. In spite of that, a digital implementation of the control algorithm requires A/D conversion of the output and/or reference. For this purpose, the adoption of conventional A/D converters (e.g. SAR, sigma-delta ADCs) employed in analog sensor readout is generally not straightforward and inefficient, in consideration of the range of the signals to be acquired (tens of Volt) and of the resolution/speed requirements. Considering that the quantity of interest in closed-loop digital control applications is the error signal (converter output - reference), rather than the output in itself, ad hoc A/D converters specifically conceived to digitize the error signal may be substantially simpler, more accurate and energy efficient. In this scenario, the thesis aims at the design, simulation, layout and post-layout verification of a Successive Approximation Register (SAR) A/D Converter and its embedded pre-conditioning that is specifically conceived to be employed in a digitally controlled power converter.