Jeff Falin
Texas Instruments

Most electronics have one or more digital processing ICs, such as FPGAs or DSPs, that require multiple power-supply rails. There are various options to consider and potential pitfalls to avoid in powering these digital ICs. This article, Part 2 of a two-part series, provides recommendations and guidance for developing a power solution for multi-rail applications where the input power supply voltage is assumed to be equal to or greater than the system rail voltage. While Part 1 discussed system-level concerns such as the power budget and sequencing options, this article focuses on how to choose between the types of point-of-load (POL) DC/DC converters and how to design them to meet DC accuracy, start-up, and transient requirements.