
Demystifying Switched-Capacitor Circuits
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6.4 SC Step-Down DC-DC Converters
As the concept of low-power design becomes increasingly popular, many state-of-the-
art handheld device including MP3 players and cellular phones are designed to
operate at 1.5 V, 1.2 V, or even lower voltages (with 1 mA to 200 mA total load
current). However, most standard batteries have a full-range dc voltage of at least
2.5 V, and consequently, a step-down DC-DC converter is usually required to convert
such a high battery input voltage into a low constant output voltage.
A widely used conventional SC step-down DC-DC converter (with three power
stages) is shown in ...