A controller for controlling a DC-DC converter in a discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) includes an output module configured to provide a switch control signal to the DC-DC converter having an on-time and a switching frequency. The controller includes an on-time-control-module configured to receive a first compensation signal based on the output voltage of the DC-DC converter; and set the on-time of the switch control signal based on the first compensation signal. The controller also includes and a frequency-control-module configured to receive a second compensation signal, wherein the second compensation signal is based on the output voltage of the DC-DC converter and regulate the second compensation signal to a target range by setting the switching frequency of the switch control signal to one of a plurality of pre-defined discrete switching frequencies.

A power converter and a control method thereof are provided. The power converter includes a primary side switching circuit, a secondary side switching circuit, a transformer, and a control circuit. The primary side switching circuit includes a first set of switches. The secondary side switching circuit includes a second set of switches. The transformer is coupled between the primary side switching circuit and the secondary side switching circuit. The control circuit is configured to control power transfer between the primary side switching circuit and the secondary side switching circuit by controlling the first and second sets of switches. The control circuit is adapted to enable and disable the first and second sets of switches in an enabling duration and a disabling duration respectively and alternatively.

An ultra-low-power mode control circuit for a power converter includes four modules: a level shift circuit, a start circuit, a static clamp circuit, and a control circuit. When a chip is powered on and a core voltage has not been established, the control circuit firstly starts a power source built-in clock to support operation of the power converter. When the core voltage is established, the control circuit determines whether to switch to an external clock according to a level of a mode selection signal. After the core voltage is powered down, the control circuit automatically wakes up the built-in clock to work.

Reference voltage generation circuits and related methods are disclosed. An example reference voltage generation circuit includes a voltage generating circuit including an enhancement mode (E-mode) gallium nitride (GaN) transistor, the voltage generating circuit to, in response to a first clock signal having a first phase, generate a first voltage associated with the E-mode GaN transistor, and, in response to a second clock signal having a second phase different from the first phase, generate a second voltage associated with the E-mode GaN transistor, and a switching capacitor circuit coupled to the voltage generating circuit, the switching capacitor circuit to generate a reference voltage based on a difference between the first voltage and the second voltage.

A system includes a switching converter, an input voltage source coupled to an input of the switching converter, and a load coupled to an output of the switching converter. The system also includes a load sense circuit coupled to the load and configured to provide a load sense signal. The system also includes an oscillator coupled to the switching converter and configured to provide a spread spectrum modulated (SSM) clock signal to the switching converter, wherein a frequency of the SSM clock signal varies as a function of the load sense signal.

An example controller for a flyback power converter includes a secondary-side circuit comprising a secondary-side controller. The secondary-side controller is configured to sense an electrical characteristic of a secondary-side output of the flyback power converter, select, based on the sensed electrical characteristic, a power mode, and transmit, over a communication channel, a control message specifying the selected power mode. A primary-side circuit of the controller includes a primary-side controller. The primary-side controller is configured to receive, over the communication channel, the control message specifying the selected power mode and control primary-side flyback drive circuitry of the primary-side circuit to drive a primary-side output of the flyback power converter according to the selected power mode so as to control a value of the electrical characteristic of the secondary-side output of the flyback power converter.

A single integrated circuit DC-to-DC conversion solution that can be used in conjunction with product designs requiring at least two different DC-to-DC conversion ratios, and in particular both divide-by-2 and divide-by-3 DC-to-DC buck conversion ratios or both multiply-by-2 and multiply-by-3 DC-to-DC boost conversion ratios. Embodiments are reconfigurable between a first Dickson converter configuration that includes at least two non-parallel capacitors (any of which may be off-chip) and associated controlled multi-phase switching to achieve a first conversion ratio, and a second Dickson converter configuration that includes a lesser equivalent number of capacitors than the first circuit configuration (which may be accomplished by parallelizing at least two non-parallel capacitors of the first configuration) and associated controlled multi-phase switching to achieve a second conversion ratio different from the first conversion ratio.

DC-DC power converter control comprises current starved delay lines for phase shifting control signals that set and reset a RS flip-flop to provide controllable PWM pulse widths from narrow to wide at a clock frequency. Precise pulse width control and a guaranteed minimum pulse width for pulse frequency modulation (PFM) control the DC-DC power converter during low power demand is also provided. PFM control maintains the same pulse width while decreasing the number of pulses per second when the output voltage exceeds an upper value and increases the number of pulses per second when the output voltage is less than a lower value. Voltage-to-current converters provide control currents to the current starved delay lines that provide the control signals to the SET and RESET inputs of the RS flip-flop. A D-flip-flop may further be used to improved circuit operation when generating high duty cycle (>50 percent) pulse widths.

An electronic device may include an inverter. The inverter may convert direct current (DC) power to alternating current (AC) power. The inverter may use a clock signal at a given frequency to output corresponding alternating current signals at the given frequency. The inverter may receive a dithered clock signal that is frequency dithered using a modulating signal. The dithered clock signal may have at least three different frequency levels during a repeated cycle of the modulating signal. The at least three different frequency levels may include a fundamental frequency, a first frequency that is lower than the fundamental frequency, and a second frequency that is higher than the fundamental frequency. The dithered clock signal may be, during the repeated cycle of the modulating signal, at the fundamental frequency for fewer total periods than at the first frequency and for fewer total periods than at the second frequency.

A power converter, a synchronous power converter system and a method of determining switching frequency are provided. A processor is configured to output a synchronous clock signal corresponding to a first switching frequency. A plurality of first-stage power converters are coupled to the processor, and configured to generate a plurality of first output voltages corresponding to the first switching frequency according to the synchronous clock signal and a system voltage. At least one second-stage power converter is coupled to the processor and one of the plurality of first-stage power converters, and configured to generate a second output voltage corresponding to a second switching frequency according to the synchronous clock signal, a multiplied frequency control signal and one of the plurality of first output voltages. The second switching frequency is a multiple of the first switching frequency.