A CMOS ripple detector for integrated voltage regulator testing

Abstract

This paper will present an RMS based ripple sensor for testing of fully integrated voltage regulators. A DC signal which is proportional to the input ripple amplitude is generated. Final digital pass/fail signal is obtained with a clocked comparator. The sensor can detect a peak-to-peak ripple voltage of up to 50 millivolts on the 1.2 volts supply rail and has 220 MHz bandwidth. The sensor is designed using IBM 90 nm CMOS technology and its functionality is verified in Cadence Virtuoso simulation environment.