Switched-Capacitor Voltage Divider (1)

This is a switched-capacitor voltage divider which is used to convert a DC voltage to a lower value in low-voltage and low-current applications. To compensate for the sag in voltage due to load, the charge pump capacitor (Ccp) can be made slightly higher than the reservoir capacitor (Cres). This raises the peak level of the ripple but particular attention should be paid to the output voltage at startup. It should be assessed if this higher initial voltage is not harmful to the load. A more common practice is to keep the values of the capacitors equal but practically high as possible. The limit is usually set by the current handling capability of the switch.