An Eight-Channel Switching-Linear Hybrid Dynamic Regulator with Dual-Supply LDOs for Thermo-Optical Tuning

A novel switching-linear hybrid dynamic regulator with dual-supply LDOs for thermo-optical tuning is presented in this brief. Compared with conventional designs, the proposed design leverages the intrinsic dual supplies to extend the operating range of the LDOs, and increases the thermo-optical tuning efficiency by reducing the dropout of the LDOs through dynamic voltage tracking. It can simultaneously regulate eight output channels and track 0.8 V_pp sinusoidal waveforms at different frequencies. Significant efficiency improvement of the proposed design is achieved for envelope signals with a small difference, which is common in thermo-optical tuning. Implemented in 130 nm CMOS process, the proposed design has a total chip area of 0.675 mm². The proposed design achieves a conversion efficiency of 88% at 1 V output driving a 200 ohms load. Its dynamic efficiency is about 80% when tracking 50 kHz sinusoidal signals.