On-Chip Voltage Regulator without Physical Inductor

Voltage regulators are at the heart of portable and embedded systems, which demand high-performance and low-power microprocessor design. These regulators will provide best voltage switching and power delivery when they can be integrated on the same chip with the microprocessor. However, their on-chip implementation is challenging because of low power-conversion efficiency and noisy output due to inductive element. Furthermore, inductors are difficult to be implemented on the chip, because they occupy valuable space due to their large size and introduce many parasitic effects. In this paper we investigate several techniques to replace inductors in a voltage regulator. The purpose is to identify the most suitable option to design physical inductor-less regulator. From primary observation it appears that active circuit elements based inductor can replace inductor in on-chip regulator design.