®
Single-Stage 5V USB Voltage Regulator
Application Note
A stable 5V supply is an integral part of many systems, most
notably USB applications. A common solution is to use a
boost converter with an LDO as shown in Figure 1. The
boost converter is configured to accept voltages ranging
from 3V to 6V and to produce an output of 6.25V. The 6.25V
is then regulated to 5V by the LDO. Both stages of this
solution exhibit some conversion losses. A simpler,
one-stage solution with the EL7515 offers higher efficiency.
This simple solution with a PFET transistor is presented in
detail and compared to the common solution.
When using a boost converter, the output has to be set
above the highest voltage to avoid significant losses.
Therefore, the output of the EL7515 in Figure 1 has been set
to 6.25V. An LP3961 voltage regulator is then used to
acquire the desired final voltage of 5V. The efficiency of this
set-up can be calculated from the efficiency of each of the
components in Equation 1:
η System = η Boost∗ η LDO (EQ. 1)
If both components have an efficiency of 80%, the overall
efficiency is 64%. The efficiency of the boost circuit is
determined by the quality of the design. The efficiency of the
LDO is a direct function of the voltage difference between its
input and output. That difference is a trade-off among the
voltage needed at the output of the boost converter, the
drop-out voltage of the LDO, and margin for the system.
To achieve a sizable increase in the efficiency of this system,
a single-stage solution is needed. A single-stage boost
circuit is given in Figure 2. The Shottky diode in series with
the PFET keeps the output of the regulator at a voltage
greater than the system output voltage-keeping the boost
converter in its high-efficiency operating mode. The voltage
VIN = 3V TO 6V L1 D1
C1 10µH
10µF
1.4kΩ
1 PGND LX 10
2 SGND VDD 9 0.1µF
R3
3 RT FB 8
C3
100kΩ
4 10kΩ
EN SS 7
LBO 20nF
5 LBI 6
EL7515
BOOST REGULATOR
FIGURE 1. TYPICAL 5V REGULATION WITH BOOST CONVERTER AND LDO
1 CAUTION: These devices are sensitive to electrostatic discharge; follow proper IC Handling Procedures.
1-888-INTERSIL or 1-888-468-3774 | Intersil (and design) is a registered trademark of Intersil Americas Inc.
May 8, 2007 AN1317.0
By Tamara Papalias and Mike Wong
value at the output of the EL7515 boost converter is set by
the combination of the turn-on voltage of the PFET and the
result of the voltage divider attached to its gate.
The PFET acts like a linear resistor. It is fully on when the
input is below 5V. For these voltages, the EL7515 handily
boosts the system output to 5V with no loss through the
transistor. When the input is greater than 5V, pin 10 of the
boost converter needs to raise above the input voltage.
Therefore, the voltage divider of R5 and R6 begins to turn
the transistor off to increase channel resistance. This
inserted resistance further isolates the output of the boost
regulator from the output of the system and adds the voltage
drop of the channel resistance, allowing the boost regulator
to remain efficient.
A comparison of the efficiency of each system is presented
in Figure 3. With a low voltage input (3.3V) being converted
to 5V, the boost converter with PFET consistently provides
8% higher efficiency over the boost/LDO combo shown in
Figure 1. With the circuits under greater stress (as with
VIN = 5V), the boost/FET circuit remains more efficient,
about 4% at low current and 2% for high current uses
(Figure 4).
To examine the efficiency for the spectrum of input voltages,
Figure 5 is provided. The efficiency of the system is well
above 80% for input voltages less than or equal to the output
voltage. When the input voltage is increased, the efficiency
drops by about 1% per 100mV.
A load regulation curve (Figure 6) is included to show the
precision of the output voltage versus current. The EL7515
has been optimized for currents up to 500mA, with no point
exceeding 0.22%.
VBOOST = 6.25V VOUT = 5V
VIN VOUT
R4
68µF 10k 10k 33µF
SD ERR
GND
C4
R2
37k
LP3961-5
R1 C10 LDO
4.7nF
Copyright Intersil Americas Inc. 2007. All Rights Reserved
All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.
 Application Note 1317

VOUT
VIN (3V TO 6V) L1 D1 Q1 (5V)
10µH MBR0520 BSS84LT1
R5
1kΩ C1 R4 R1 C5
10µF 1kΩ 27.4k 22µF
U1
PGND LX
R6 SGND VDD
22kΩ
RT FB
R3 EN SS R2
71.5k LBI LBO VIN_GOOD C3 C4 10k C2
22nF 0.1µF 4.7nF
EL7515IY

EN
FIGURE 2. 5V REGULATION WITH BOOST CONVERTER AND FET

80 80

78 79

78
76
BOOST + FET
EFFICIENCY (%)
EFFICIENCY (%)

77
74 BOOST + FET
76
72
75
70 BOOST + LDO
74
68 BOOST + LDO 73

66 72

64 71
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
IOUT (mA)
IOUT (mA)

FIGURE 3. EFFICIENCY OF BOOST/LDO COMBO AND FIGURE 4. EFFICIENCY OF BOOST/LDO COMBO AND
BOOST/FET COMBO FOR VIN = 3.3V, VOUT = 5V BOOST/FET COMBO FOR VIN = 5V, VOUT = 5V

95 0.25
VIN = 3.3 VIN = 3.7
90 VIN = 3.5V 0.20

85 0.15
LOAD REGULATION (%)

VIN = 3V
VIN = 4.5V 0.10
EFFICIENCY (%)

80
0.05
75 VIN = 5V
VIN = 5.5V 0
70
-0.05
65
VIN = 6V -0.10
60 -0.15
55 -0.20
50 -0.25
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 100 200 300 400 500 600

IOUT (mA) IOUT (mA)

FIGURE 5. EFFICIENCY OF BOOST/FET COMBO FOR FIGURE 6. LOAD REGULATION OF BOOST/FET COMBO
VOUT = 5V, VIN VARIED

Intersil Corporation reserves the right to make changes in circuit design, software and/or specifications at any time without notice. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned to
verify that the Application Note or Technical Brief is current before proceeding.

For information regarding Intersil Corporation and its products, see www.intersil.com

2 AN1317.0
May 8, 2007