Fast Transient Capacitor-Less Low-Dropout Regulator Based on Output Voltage Spike Reduction Circuits for SOC Applications

Abstract

A fast transient capacitor-less low-dropout regulator is presented in this study. The proposed LDO structure is based on Output Voltage Spike Reduction (OVSR) circuits and capacitance compensation circuits to enable a fast-transient response with ultra-low power dissipation and to make the LDO stable for a wide range of output load currents (0–50[Formula: see text]mA). The slew rate is improved with more slew current from the OVSR circuit and unity gain bandwidth is improved by a capacitor multiplayer circuit. The proposed LDO has been simulated with a standard 0.18[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m CMOS process. The output voltage of the LDO was set to 1.2[Formula: see text]V for an input voltage of 1.4–2[Formula: see text]V. The Simulation results verify that the transient times are less than 2.8[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]s and the maximum undershoot and overshoot are 20[Formula: see text]mV while consuming only 26[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]A quiescent current. The proposed LDO is stable with an on-chip capacitor at the output node within the wide range of 1100[Formula: see text]PF.