Electronic equipment uses predominantly positive voltage rails for power; occasionally, some negative voltage rails are also used. For this reason, negative (or inverting) output DC-DC converter solutions are not as common as their positive output DC-DC counterparts. Nevertheless, when powering high performance devices in factory automation, building automation, and communications systems such as high-speed DACs, op amps, RF power amplifiers, AFEs, GaN FET gate drivers, and IGBT gate drivers, a negative voltage rail is needed.

Designers face a big challenge looking for a negative voltage solution as most legacy devices require external level shifter circuits with which to communicate. They are also outdated, inefficient, complex, and bulky. This article discusses in detail the drawbacks of legacy solutions, and then investigates a new breed of highly-integrated devices that addresses the deficiency, and offers a compact, easy-to-use, and highly-efficient negative output DC-DC solution.

For more information visit https://www.edn.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-negative-output-dc-dc-converters/