Optimizing a Buck Voltage Regulator and the Number of Decoupling Capacitors for a PDN Application

An optimization methodology to determine the best values of the compensation elements of a buck voltage regulator (VR) as well as the optimal number of decoupling capacitors in a power delivery network (PDN) application is proposed. A state average equivalent circuit model of the buck converter is employed. The proposed optimization methodology gradually finds the best compensation parameter values of a buck converter VR to meet some stability criteria in a PDN application. Additionally, the number of parallel decoupling capacitors in the PDN is minimized to simultaneously meet a frequency-domain impedance profile specification and a time-domain voltage droop requirement.