Multiphase buck converter
Beginner
Several small power converters taking turns, sharing the job of feeding one chip.
Novice
A step-down converter made of several identical stages (“phases”) wired in parallel, each switching at a different moment. Splitting the current spreads the heat and smooths the output.
Expert
buck phases interleaved at , sharing input and output capacitors. Ripple cancellation reduces capacitance, effective output inductance during transients drops by , and controllers shed phases at light load. Per-phase current is typically kept to tens of amps.