PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF WIDE BANDGAP GAN BASED INTERLEAVED CONVERTER FOR CPU VOLTAGE REGULATOR APPLICATIONS

Nowadays, the central processing unit (CPU) of laptop computer operates at very high clock frequencies (GHz) with abrupt load transitions. Therefore, it necessitates an efficient voltage regulator in order to realize the rapid CPU dynamics. In view of this, this paper presents a 4-phase interleaved synchronous buck converter (ISBC) for the CPU applications. It has the exceptional features such as input and output current ripple cancellation, good thermal performance, higher power, current and efficiency. The design of a 9~19 V input, 1 V/45 A, 300 kHz ISBC is accomplished as a CPU voltage regulator. The performance of the converter is interpreted for the line and load regulations based on the voltage mode hysteretic controller. The elaborative PSIM simulation results are presented in view of emphasizing the strength of this controller. Moreover, the efficiency analysis of the Si devices as well as GaN devices based interleaved converter is explored in detail. The GaN devices can ameliorate the power density (PD) as well as efficiency of the ISBC. It also highlights the importance of the switching frequency selection and optimization for the ISBC.