A switching regulator includes a low-side switch having a body diode.
During the low-side switch is on, a zero-current sense circuit monitors
the inductor current of the switching regulator and triggers a signal to
turn off the low-side switch when the inductor current falls down to a
zero-current threshold, to prevent reverse inductor current from the
output terminal of the switching regulator. A body-diode turn-on time
controller monitors the turn-on time of the body diode and adjusts the
zero-current threshold according thereto, and the turn-on time of the
body diode can be reduced to an optimal interval subsequently. The
self-adjustable zero-current threshold is adaptive according to the
application conditions, such as the inductor size, input voltage and
output voltage of the switching regulator.