An Analysis of the Highly Linear Transfer Characteristics of Dual-Buck Converters

Practical switching devices have finite turn-on and turn-off times. To avoid short circuit, a blanking time is added between turn-off and turn-on of the complementary working switches in a switching-leg. The blanking time, also referred to as deadtime, is one of the dominant sources of output current and voltage distortion in pulse-width modulated (PWM) power amplifiers. Extensive studies exist on elimination, minimization, and compensation of the effect. Most techniques achieve a reduction of the distortion but are not capable of completely removing it. The dual-buck (DB) converter does not suffer from blanking-time-related distortion. However, blanking time is not the only source of switching-leg-induced distortion. This paper focuses on the effects of semiconductor device parameters on the output quality of the DB converter. It is shown that, ideally, the forward voltages of the diodes and switches have no effect on the output quality. Measurements on a prototype, industrial power stack based, DB converter show a 100 times improvement of the open-loop spurious free dynamic range when compared to conventional PWM converters.