Buck converters are still the most commonly used technique for power conversion in PCs, for producing the high current low voltage supplies for CPUs. Researchers in the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering at Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario Canada have developed a high performance Current Source Gate Driver that greatly improves the operation of the buck converter, especially in low voltage supplies (< 1.3V) commonly required for next generation CPUs. The researcher has demonstrated a 30A 12V->1.3V buck converter with a peak efficiency of 89% using this technology.
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