SC2441A_09

1.8V to 20V Input 2-Phase Synchronous Step-down Controllers with Step-up Converter POWER MANAGEMENT Description The SC2441A is a programmable frequency dual independent or dual/multiple phase single output peak current-mode step-down switching regulator controller. It is capable of operating from 1.8V to 20V input. A 0.6A step-up converter in the SC2441A generates an auxiliary gate drive supply when VIN is below 4.5V. This makes the SC2441A well suited for applications where a low-voltage input ( 1V V P LLF o p e n TJ = 25°C 450 500 240 550 KHz KHz 1.7 10 88 2.0 15 90 0 20 µA % % V 0.5 V µA µs V 0.4 V IPLLF DMAX1, DMAX2 DMIN1, DMIN2 VS/SH VS/SL IS/S VPLLF=1V 1.5 VS/S = 0.2V VS/S = 2V (Note 1) ICKOUT = -80µA ICKOUT = 200µA 1.6 40 85 1.8 1 60 CKOUTH CKOUTL Current-Sense Amplifiers, PWM and Current-Limit Comparators Input Common Mode Range Current Limit Threshold Current Limit Threshold Positive Current-Sense Input Bias Current Negative Current-Sense Input Bias Current Minimum PWM On-time Gate Drivers High-Side Gate Drive Peak Source Current High-Side Gate Drive Peak Sink Current Low-Side Gate Drive Peak Source Current (Note 1) (Note 1) (Note 1) 2 2 2 A A A VILIM1, VILIM2 VILIM1, VILIM2 ICS1(+), ICS2(+) ICS1(-), ICS2(-) V C C = 8V VCS1(-) = VCS2(-) = 0V V C C = 8V VCS1(-) = VCS2(-) = 5V VCS1(+) = VCS1(-) = 0 VCS2(-) = VCS2(-) = 0 VCS1(+) = VCS1(-) = 0 VCS2(+) = VCS2(-) = 0 TA = 25°C, (Note 1) 0 18 18 23 23 -0.4 -40 180 V CC - 1 28 28 -0.8 -75 V mV mV µA µA ns  2006 Semtech Corp. 3 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Electrical Characteristics (Cont.) Unless specified: VIN = 2V, VCC = VBST1 = VBST2 =8V, SYNC/SHDN =2V, ROSC = 51.1kΩ, -40°C < TA = TJ < 105°C Parameter Low-Side Gate Drive Peak Sink Current Gate Drive Rise Time Gate Drive Fall Time Soft-Start, Overload Shutoff and Enable Soft-Start Voltage to Enable Overload Hiccup Overload Hiccup FB Threshold Soft-Start Discharge Current Soft-Start Voltage to Restart After Overload Shutdown Channel Disable SS/EN Voltage SS/EN Threshold for PWM Operation Boost Converter VIN Start Threshold VIN Hysteresis Feedback Pin Bias Current Feedback Voltage Feedback Amplifier Transconductance Feedback Amplifier Open-Loop Gain Boost Converter Switching Frequency Maximum Switch Duty Cycle Boost Converter Switch Saturation Voltage Boost Switch Leakage Current Boost Switch Current Limit Thermal Shutdown Thermal Shutdown Hysteresis Symbol Conditions (Note 1) C L = 3300pF C L = 3300pF Min Typ 2 30 30 Max Units A ns ns VSSEN1, VSSEN2 VFBOL1, VFBOL2 ISS1(DIS), ISS2(DIS) VSSRST1, VSSRST2 VSS1 and VSS2 Increasing VSS1, 2 = 3.5V FB1 and FB2 Decreasing VFB1 = VFB2 = 0.3V V S S 1 = V S S 2 = 3V VSS1 and VSS2 Decreasing 0.35 6 3.3 0.38 9 0.5 0.6 0.41 12 V V µA V V V VCS1(+) = VCS1(-) = 0 VCS2(+) = VCS2(-) = 0 VINTH VINTL IFB3 V FB 3 GM3 a o3 fOSC3 DMAX3 VCESAT ILEAKAGE ILIMIT ISW = 0.6A V S W = 12V 1.8V < VIN < 16.5V VIN Increasing 1.23 1.28 1.33 1.73 100 40 1.225 1.250 70 50 1 85 92 0.27 1.76 250 1.275 V mV nA V µΩ-1 dB MHz % V 5 0.6 0.8 155 10 µA A °C °C Notes: (1) Guaranteed by design not tested in production. (2) Input current is dominated by the equivalent gate drive current to external MOSFETs in active switching condition.  2006 Semtech Corp. 4 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Pin Configurations Ordering Information Device P ackag e TSSOP-28-EDP Temperature Range ( TA) -40 to 85°C Top View SC2441ATETRT(1,2) IN PLLF SS1/EN1 CS1+ CS1SYNC/SHDN FB3 COMP3 GND ROSC FB1 COMP1 COMP2 FB2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 CKOUT SW3 PGND2 BST1 PGND1 GDH1 GDL1 VCC GDL2 GDH2 BST2 SS2/EN2 CS2+ CS2- S C 2441A E V B Evaluation Board Notes: (1) Only available in tape and reel packaging. A reel contains 2500 devices for the TSSOP-28-EDP package. (2) Lead free product. This product is fully WEEE and RoHS compliant. TSSOP-28 EDP  2006 Semtech Corp. 5 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Pin Descriptions Pin 1 2 3 4 5 Pin Name IN P LLF SS1/EN1 C S 1+ C S 1Pin Function Supply Voltage for the Boost Converter. Tie to VCC if boost converter is not used to generate auxiliary supply. Compensation Pin for the Phase Lock Loop. An external resistor and an external capacitor tied to this pin set the first step-down converter soft-start time and its overload hiccup cycle time. Pulling this pin below 0.6V shuts off channel 1 gate drivers. The Non-inverting Input to the Channel 1 Current-sense Amplifier/Comparator. The Inverting Input to the Channel 1 Current-sense Amplifier/Comparator. Normally tied to the output of the converter. Synchronization and Shutdown Input. Tie this pin to IN (Pin 1) or to a voltage above 1.5V to enable the SC2441A. Pulling this pin below 0.5V shuts off both step-down controllers and the boost regulator. Driving this pin with an external clock synchronizes the SC2441A. The boost converter runs at twice of the external clock frequency whereas the step-down controllers operate at the clock frequency. The Inverting Input to Boost Error Amplifier. FB3 is tied to an external resistive divider for OUT3 voltage setting. Boost Converter Error Amplifier Output. Used for loop compensation. Pulling this pin below 0.4V disables the step-up converter. Analog Ground. An external resistor connected from this pin to GND sets the oscillator free-running frequency. The Inverting Input to the Channel 1 Error Amplifier. Tie to an external resistive divider between OUT1 and the ground for output voltage sensing. Channel 1 Error Amplifier Output. Used for loop compensation. Channel 2 Error Amplifier Output. Used for loop compensation. The Inverting Input to the Channel 2 Error Amplifier. Tie to an external resistive divider between OUT2 and the ground for output voltage sensing. Tie to IN or VCC for two-phase single output operation. The Inverting Input to the Channel 2 Current-sense Amplifier/Comparator. Normally tied to the output of the converter. The Non-inverting Input to the Channel 1 Current-sense Amplifier/Comparator. An external resistor and an external capacitor tied to this pin set the second step-down converter soft-start time and its overload hiccup cycle time. Pulling this pin below 0.6V shuts off channel 2 gate drivers. Leave open for two-phase single output operation. Bootstrapped Supply for Channel 2 Upper Gate Drive. Connect to a bootstrap capacitor and an external diode. Gate Drive Output for Channel 2 Upper MOSFET. Gate drive voltage swings from ground to VBST2. 6 www.semtech.com 6 SYNC/SHDN 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 FB 3 COMP3 GND ROSC FB 1 COMP1 COMP2 14 FB 2 15 16 C S 2C S 2+ 17 SS2/EN2 18 19 BST2 GDH2  2006 Semtech Corp. SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Pin Descriptions (Cont.) 20 GDL2 Gate Drive Output for Channel 2 Synchronous MOSFET. Gate drive voltage swings from ground to VCC. Supply Voltage for Both Step-down Controllers and the Synchronous MOSFET Gate Drivers. The boost converter generates VCC if VIN is not high enough to fully enhance the power MOSFETs and the boost converter provides an auxiliary supply voltage for the step-down controllers. Tie VCC to VIN if the boost converter is not needed. Gate Drive Output for Channel 1 Synchronous MOSFET. Gate drive voltage swings from ground to VCC. Gate Drive Output for Channel 1 Upper MOSFET. Gate drive voltage swings from ground to VBST1. Power Ground Return of the Gate Drivers. Bootstrapped Supply for Channel 1 Upper Gate Drive. Connect to a bootstrap capacitor and an external diode. Boost Switch Emitter. Boost Switch Collector. Connect to a boost inductor and freewheeling diode. Clock output. See timing diagram in Figure 5(b). Must be properly soldered to the signal ground plane to enhance thermal conduction. 21 VC C 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 GDL1 GDH1 PGND1 BST1 PGND2 SW3 CKOUT Exposed PAD  2006 Semtech Corp. 7 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Block Diagram CKOUT 28 P LLF 2 S YNC/SHDN 6 ROS C 10 COMP 1 12 0.5V FB1 11 OSCILLATOR AND PHAS E DETECTOR S HDN SHDN S LOP E2 CLK2 FREQUENCY CLK1 DIVIDER CLK S LOP E COMP 0.5V 0.35V 1.25V R EFERENCE V IN UVLO 1.6/1.7V IN 1 VCC 21 FAULT UVLO 4.3V/4.5V BST1 25 GDH1 23 + + EA1 - - R S Q Adaptive Shoot-through Protection GDL1 + PWM1 SS1/EN1 3 1.25V GND 9 R CS1+ 4 CS15 S LOP E1 2R 1.25V A2 TG1ON - 22 + Soft-Start And Overload Hiccup Control 1 OL1 DSBL1 P GND1 24 + - I SEN1 + S + CH 1 25mV + CH 2 S EL B Y A MUX BST2 18 GDH2 19 R S Q Adaptive Shoot-through Protection PWM2 - I LIM1 1.25V + A1 CLK2 S EL ANALOG SWITCH COMP 2 13 0.5V FB2 14 SS2/EN2 17 1.25V 2R R + + EA2 - - + TG2ON V CC GDL2 20 A3 - + 1.25V CS2+ 16 CS215 + - ISEN2 +S + + Soft-Start And Overload Hiccup Control 2 OL2 DSBL2 S LOP E2 25mV - I LIM2 I Figure 2 Functional Diagram of the Step-down Controllers  2006 Semtech Corp. 8 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Block Diagram COMP3 8 FB3 7 1.25V CLK SW3 27 + EA3 - R S Q + PWM3 + ILIM3 - SLOPE COMP I-LIMIT R SENSE + Σ + + ISEN3 - 26 PGND2 Figure 3. Step-up Converter Functional Diagram VCC FB 0.35V SS/EN RSS + C3 C1 HICCUP DISABLE S Q R L1 TURN OFF GATE DRIVES OL (OVERLOAD) CSS 0.8V 0.5V/3.3V - + C2 S Q R L2 DSBL UV SHDN FAULT Q1 TGON 10µA UV = “1” IF VCC < 4.5V SHDN = “1” IF SYNC/SHDN < 0.5V Soft-Start and Overload Hiccup Control Figure 2 Figure 4 Details of Soft-Start and Overload Hiccup Control Circuit  2006 Semtech Corp. 9 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Block Diagram 1.5V INTERNAL CLAMP EXT CLOCK BUFFER SYNC/SHDN 6 XCLK PHASE / FREQUENCY DETECTOR QU QD IPLLF S1 1K PLLF 2 CURRENTCONTROLLED OSCILLATOR S2 R1 IPLLF C2 R2 0.4V C1 OPTIONAL RESISTOR FOR SETTING PHASE SHIFT EXTERNAL PLL COMPENSATION CKOUT 28 QT QT TOGGLE FLIP-FLOP CLK1 CLK2 (a) CLK XCLK QT QT CKOUT CLK1 CLK2 GDH1 GDH2 (b) Figure 5. Phase-Locked Loop (a) and Its Timing Diagram in Locked Condition (R2 not Used) (b).  2006 Semtech Corp. 10 www.semtech.com + + V/I ROSC 10 ROSC CLK SETS FREE RUNNNG FREQUENCY SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT 4.5V Vcc 3.3V VSOFT-START Enable Hiccup VCOMP 1.85V 1.25V PWM VOUT Figure 6a. SC2441A Start-up Timing Diagram VSOFT-START-CAP 3.3V Enable Hiccup VO 70% X VO Setpoint 0.8V 1.25V 1.85V VCOMP VO PWM 0.5V Disable Hiccup restart Figure 6b. SC2441A Overload Hiccup Operation Timing Diagram  2006 Semtech Corp. 11 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Typical Characteristics Step-down Channel Feedback vs Temperature 0.55 650 600 Frequency (KHz) Step-down Channel Switching Frequency v s Temperature ROSC = 40.2KW 0.53 Reference Voltage (V) 0.51 550 ROSC = 51.1KW 500 450 ROSC = 66.5KW 400 350 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) 0.49 0.47 V IN = 3V VCC = 8V 0.45 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) 5 4 3 2 Deviation (% ) 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -50 Percenatge Frequency Deviation From Nominal vs Temperature Feedback Pin Input Bias Current (nA) Feedback Pin Input Bias Current vs Temperature 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 VCOMP1 = 3V Channel 1 V COMP2 = 3V Channel 2 ROSC = 66.5KW ROSC = 40.2KW ROSC = 51.1KW -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) Temperature (°C) Amplifier Transconductance vs Temperature 400 Amplifier Transconductance ( mW -1 ) Amplifier Open Loop Gain vs Temperature 80 Amplifier Open Loop Gain (dB) 79 78 77 76 75 74 73 72 71 70 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 380 360 340 320 300 280 260 240 220 200 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) Temperature (°C)  2006 Semtech Corp. 12 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Typical Characteristics Charge Pump Current IPLLF vs Temperature 20.0 (µ A) 19.0 18.0 17.0 16.0 15.0 14.0 13.0 12.0 11.0 10.0 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) SYNC/SHDN Input Voltage vs Temperature 1.5 SYNC/SHDN Input High Voltage (V) 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 SYNC/SHDN Input Low SYNC/SHDN Input High VPLLF = 1V Charge Pump Current I PLLF 0.9 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) Clock Output High Voltage vs Temperature 2.00 Clock Output High Voltage (V) 1.95 1.90 1.85 1.80 1.75 1.70 1.65 1.60 1.55 1.50 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) Clock Output Low Voltage vs Temperature 0.08 Clock Output Low Voltage (V) ICLK_OUT = - 80 µA 0.07 0.06 ICLK_OUT = 200 µA 0.05 0.04 0.03 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) Current Sense Amplifier Input Bias Current vs Temperature (Non-inverting Pin) -0.40 Current Sense Amplifier Input Bias Current ( µ A) -0.45 -0.50 -0.55 V CC = 8V, VCS1 (-) = VCS2 (-) = 0V -0.60 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C)  2006 Semtech Corp. 13 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Typical Characteristics Current Sense Amplifier Input Bias Current vs Temperature (Inverting Pin) -25 Current Sense Amplifier Input Bias Current ( µ A) Overload Hiccup Threshold vs Temperature 0.400 Soft-Start Voltage Threshold (to Enable Overload Hiccup Protection) vs Temperature 4.0 Soft-Start Voltage Threshold (to Enable Overload Hiccup Protection) (V) Overload Hiccup Threshold (V) 0.395 0.390 0.385 0.380 0.375 0.370 0.365 0.360 0.355 0.350 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 V SS1,2 = 3.5V 3.8 -30 3.6 3.4 -35 V CC = 8V, VCS1 (-) = VCS2 (-) = 0V 3.2 -40 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) 3.0 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) Temperature (°C) Soft-Start Discharge Current vs Temperature 9.0 Soft-Start Discharge Current ( µ A) Soft-Start Voltage (to Restart Overload Shutdown) vs Temperature 0.60 Soft-Start Voltage (to Restart Overload Shutdown) (V) Soft-Start Voltage (to Restart Overload Shutdown) (V) Soft-Start Disable Voltage vs Temperature 0.83 8.5 0.58 0.81 0.56 8.0 0.79 0.54 7.5 V F B1=VFB2=0.3V, VSS1=VSS2=3V 0.52 0.77 V FB1=VF B2=0.45V, VCOMP1=VCOMP2=2V 7.0 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) 0.50 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) 0.75 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) Soft-Start Threshold Voltage (to Eable PWM Operation) vs Temperature 1.30 VIN Start-up Threshold Voltage (V) Soft-Start Threshold Voltage (to Eable PWM Operation) (V) VIN Start-up Threshold Voltage vs Temperature 1.75 VIN Hysteresis Voltage vs Temperature 0.110 0.105 VIN Hysteresis Voltage (V) 1.28 1.74 0.100 0.095 0.090 0.085 0.080 0.075 1.26 1.73 1.24 1.72 1.22 V FB1=VFB2=0.03V 1.71 1.20 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) 1.70 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C)  2006 Semtech Corp. 14 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Typical Characteristics Boost Section Feedback Pin Bias Current vs Temperature 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) Boost Section Feedback Voltage vs Temperature 1.28 Boost Section Reference Voltage (V) Boost Section Amplifier Transconductance vs Temperature 105 Boost Section Feedback Pin Bias Current (nA) 1.26 Boost Section Amplifier Transconductance ( mW -1 ) 75 100 125 95 85 1.24 75 1.22 1.8V < VIN < 16.5V 65 1.20 -50 -25 0 25 50 Temperature (°C) 55 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) 56 Boost Section Amplifier Open Loop Gain (dB) 55 54 53 52 51 50 Boost Section Amplifier Open Loop Gain vs Temperature Boost Section Switch Current Limit (A) 0.90 0.85 0.80 0.75 0.70 0.65 Boost Section Switch Current Limit vs Temperature Boost Section Switch Saturation Voltage (V) 0.35 Boost Section Switch Saturation Voltage vs Temperature 0.33 0.31 0.29 0.27 ISW = 0.6A -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 0.60 -50 0.25 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) Temperature (°C) Temperature (°C) Bottom Gate Driver Transition Time vs Load Capacitance 100 VCC = 12V Transition Time (nS) 80 Transition Time (nS) Bottom Gate Driver Transition Time vs Load Capacitance 100 VCC = 5V tf 80 tf 60 60 tr 40 40 20 25°C 0 0 1 Load Capacitance (nF) 20 tr 25°C 0 10 0 1 Load Capacitance (nF) 10  2006 Semtech Corp. 15 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Typical Characteristics Phase Shift vs Temperature 225 R2 = 36.5KW Phase Deviation (%) 25 20 180 15 10 Pe rce ntage De viation In Phase Shift vs Temperature R2 = 47.5KW R2 = 36.5KW 225 Phase Shift vs Temperature 180 R2 = 34.8KW Phase (deg) Phase (deg) 135 R2 = 47.5KW R2 = 71.5KW 5 0 -5 -10 -15 -20 135 R2 = 71.5KW 90 90 R2 = 46.4KW R2 = 68.1KW 45 R2 = 143KW ROSC = 40.2KW fSYNC = 500KHz 45 ROSC = 40.2KW fSYNC = 500KHz -50 -25 0 25 50 R2 = 143KW 75 100 125 ROSC = 51.1KW fSYNC = 400KHz R2 = 140KW 25 50 75 100 125 0 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) -25 0 -50 -25 0 Temperature (°C) Temperature (°C) 20 Pe rce ntage De viation In Phase Shift vs Temperature R2 = 68.1KW Phase Shift vs Temperature 225 30 20 Percentage Deviation In Phase Shift vs Temperature 180 R2 = 31.6K W Phase Deviation (%) Phase Deviation (%) 10 Phase (deg) 135 R2 = 41.2KW R2 = 61.9KW 10 0 -10 -20 -30 -40 -50 -60 ROSC = 66.5KW fSYNC = 300KHz -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 R2 = 61.9KW R2 = 121KW R2 = 41.2KW R2 = 31.6KW 0 R2 = 140KW R2 = 46.4KW 90 -10 ROSC = 51.1KW fSYNC = 400KHz -20 -50 -25 0 25 50 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) R2 = 34.8KW 45 ROSC = 66.5KW fSYNC = 300KHz 0 -50 -25 0 25 50 R2 = 121K W 75 100 125 Temperature (°C) Temperature (°C) Upper Gate Driver Transition Time vs Load Capacitance 100 VCC = 12V 80 Transition Time (nS) Upper Gate Driver Transition Time vs Load Capacitance 100 V CC = 5V tf Transition Time (nS) 80 tf 60 tr 60 40 40 20 25°C 0 0 1 Load Capacitance (nF) 20 25°C 0 tr 10 0 1 Load Capacitance (nF) 10  2006 Semtech Corp. 16 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Operation Overview The SC2441A is a constant-frequency switching regulator capable of operating from 1.8V to 20V input. It consists of two current-mode step-down switch-mode PWM controllers driving all N-channel MOSFETs and an auxiliary step-up current-mode converter with an integrated 0.6A power switch. A local supply (>5V) can be generated from a low voltage input (3.3V, 2.5V or 1.8V) to provide sufficient gate drives for the step-down converters. The two step-down channels of the SC2441A operate at 180 degrees out of phase from each other. Input currents are interleaved in a two-phase converter so input ripple current is lower and lower input capacitance can be used for filtering. The step-down controllers of the SC2441A operate in synchronous continuous-conduction mode. They can function either as two independent step-down controllers producing two separate outputs or as a dual-phase singleoutput controller by tying the FB2 pin to VIN (Figure 2). In single output mode, the channel 1 error amplifier controls both channels and the channel 2 error amplifier is disabled. Soft-start and overload hiccup of both channels are also controlled by channel 1. In Figure 2 the output SEL of the comparator A1 determines which error amplifier outputs and fault signals are routed to channel 2. The minimum required FB2 voltage for single output mode is 1.55V. Phase-Locked Loop and Synchronization The SC2441A utilizes a phase-locked oscillator (Figure 5) for clock generation and external synchronization. The advantages of using a phase-locked loop (PLL) are: (i) when the step-down channels are synchronized, the auxiliary stepup regulator in the SC2441A can be made to run at twice the external clock frequency to reduce component size and (ii) two or more SC2441A can be daisy chained using the clock output (pin 28) and interleaved with programmable phase shift. Each step-down controller within a SC2441A operates at 180 degrees out of phase from the other stepdown controller. The switching frequency of the step-down controllers can be set with an external resistor ROSC. The boost regulator and the step-down controllers are capable of operating up to 2 MHz and 1 MHz respectively. It is  2006 Semtech Corp. necessary to consider the operating duty-ratio range before deciding the switching frequency. See Applications Information section for more details. Consider the detailed block diagram of the PLL in Figure 5. The phase/frequency detector compares the buffered external clock XCLK with the Q T output of the toggle flipflop. If the rising edge of XCLK leads that of Q T , then QU will go high between the two corresponding rising edges. Switch S1 is closed, charge is delivered to the loop filter and the voltage at the PLLF pin increases. This in turn causes the current output of the voltage to current converter (V/I) and the switching frequency of the current-controlled oscillator (CCO) to increase. If Q T rises before XCLK, then QD will go high from the rising edge of Q T to the rising edge of XCLK. Switch S2 is closed, charge is drawn from the loop filter and the PLLF voltage falls. The switching frequency of the current-controlled oscillator (CCO) decreases. When the PLL is in lock, the rising edges of XCLK and Q T are aligned. QU and QD will go high for only a few gate delays. The PLLF stabilizes to a constant DC voltage and the CCO runs at the same frequency as the external clock. In the absence of an external clock, S2 is closed and the PLL loop filter is continuously discharged. Not shown in Figure 5 is an internal PLLF lower clamp circuit that limits the minimum voltage at the PLLF pin to 0.17V. This sets the lowest operating frequency and thus the lower bound of the PLL lock-range. The V/I in Figure 5 is shown with two non-inverting inputs. The lower voltage non-inverting input takes control of the V/I. If the PLLF pin is tied to VIN (>1.8V) through a current-limiting resistor, then the 0.4V input of the V/I will predominate. The 0.4V input therefore sets the upper excursion limit of the V/I and the maximum operating frequency of the PLL at a given ROSC. The maximum PLL frequency to the minimum locking frequency ratio is about 2. When the SC2441A is not synchronized externally, the PLLF pin should be tied high through a resistor. The CCO will then run at its maximum frequency. W hen two SC2441As are used in a master-slave configuration, the PLLF pin of the master SC2441A is tied high and its free running frequency is set with the resistor ROSC. CKOUT of the master is then tied to the SYNC/ SHDN input of the slave SC2441A. The free running and the 17 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Operation (Cont.) minimum locking frequencies of the slave should be selected to accommodate the variation in the master’s frequency. Phase shift between the master and the slave can be programmed with an optional resistor (Figure 5). More detailed discussion can be found in the Application Information. Pulling the SYNC/ SHDN pin below 0.5V shuts off the SC2441A after 85µs time delay. Control Loop The step-down controllers and the boost regulator in the SC2441A use peak current-mode control for fast transient response and current sharing in single output operation. Current-mode switching regulators utilize a dual-loop feedback control system. The error amplifier output controls the peak inductor current of that channel. This is the inner current loop. The double reactive poles of the output LC filter are reduced to a single real pole by the inner current loop, easing loop compensation. Fast transient response can be obtained with a simple Type-2 compensation network. In the outer loop, the error amplifier regulates the output voltage. Referring to the block diagrams in Figures 2 and 3, the sensed inductor current is summed with the slopecompensating ramp before compared to the output of the error amplifier. The PWM comparator trip point determines the switch turn-on pulse width. The current-limit comparator ILIM turns off the power switch when the sensed current exceeds the corresponding current-limit threshold. ILIM therefore provides cycle-by-cycle current limit. All three converters in the SC2441A have internal rampcompensation to prevent sub-harmonic oscillation when operating above 50% duty cycle. The internal compensating ramp is designed for an inductor ripple-current between 1 and of the maximum inductor current and the peak4 to-peak current-sense voltage (CSP-CSN of the step-down Current-Sensing The inductor current needs to be sensed for use as PWM modulating ramp. Either sense resistor or inductor series resistance (DCR) can be used as the sensing element for the step-down controllers. Since the maximum currentsense voltage (CSP-CSN) is only 25mV, a precision sense resistor in series with the inductor can be used at the output without resulting in excessive power dissipation. Alternatively the DCR of the inductor can also be used. Both methods are less sensitive to supply and ground transients than high-side or low-side sensing because the sensed voltage is developed at the output of the stepdown converter. DCR sensing will be described in more details in the Applications Information section. Boost switch current is sensed with an integrated sense resistor with a minimum current-limit of 0.6A. Error Amplifiers All error amplifiers in the SC2441A are of transconductance type. Converters are compensated with series RC network from the COMP pins to the ground. An additional small parallel capacitor may be required for stability. In Figure 2 the error amplifiers EA1 and EA2 are shown with two non-inverting inputs. The non-inverting input with lower voltage predominates. One positive input is biased to a 0.5V precision reference. The other non-inverting input of the error amplifier is tied to a voltage equal to (VSS/EN - 1.25V)/3. During converter start up, the effective positive input of the error amplifier stays at 0 until the soft-start capacitor at the SS/EN pin is charged above 1.25V. The corresponding COMP pin is also pulled low by the comparator A2 or A3. After the SS/EN voltage exceeds 1.25V, the COMP pin is released. Both the upper and the lower gate drives remain low until the COMP voltage exceeds 1.85V. If the soft-start capacitor charging time is sufficiently long, then both the FB and the output voltage will track the divided SS/EN voltage on their way to regulation. If the starting output voltage is non-zero, then the COMP voltage and the corresponding gate drives will remain low until the divided SS/EN voltage exceeds the feedback voltage. Starting into a pre-existing output is seamless. 18 www.semtech.com controllers) between and of the current-limit threshold (25mV). The current-limits of all three converters are unaffected by the compensation ramps.  2006 Semtech Corp. SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Operation (Cont.) In closed loop operation, EA1 and EA2 output voltage vary from 1.2V to 3.5V with the range 1.2V to 1.85V corresponding to negative peak sense voltages. Both gate drives are kept off until the COMP voltage exceeds 1.85V in start up. The error amplifier of the step-up converter has a 1.25V reference voltage. Its output voltage excursion is from 0.8V to 1V in closed-loop operation. Current-Limit The 25mV maximum current sense voltage is the cycle-bycycle peak current limit of the step-down controller. Gate Drivers The SC2441A uses an adaptive non-overlapping control scheme to switch the upper and the synchronous MOSFETs. The synchronous MOSFET of each step-down channel is turned off at the falling-edge of the phase clock. The control (upper) MOSFET is not turned on until the synchronous gate drive goes low. The phase inductor current ramps up. When the sensed inductor current reaches the threshold determined by the error amplifier output and ramp compensation, the control MOSFET is turned off. The synchronous MOSFET is not turned on until the upper gate drive goes low. The supply voltage for the upper gate driver is obtained from a diode-capacitor bootstrap circuit. If the bootstrap capacitor is charged from VCC, then the high-side gate drive voltage will swing from approximately 2VCC to ground. The synchronous gate drive swings from VCC to ground. Soft-Start and Overload Protection Figure 4 shows the functional diagram of the soft-start and overload protection circuit. The soft-start capacitor CSS and its charging resistor RSS are tied to the SS/EN pin. Together they set the soft-start time. Before VCC rises to 4.5V, the undervoltage lockout circuit discharges CSS to ground. After VCC rises above 4.5V, Q1 turns off and CSS is slowly charged by RSS. Comparator C2 and latch L2 first disable both the upper and lower gate drives. Hysteretic comparator C1 resets the latch L1 so that hiccup is disabled during start up. As mentioned above, there is no PWM (=TGON) pulse until C SS i s above 1.25V and the corresponding COMP rises above 1.85V. Once the first TGON pulse appears, L2 is reset and both gate drivers of that channel are enabled. After C SS is charged above 3.3V, C 1 output goes low. Hiccup is armed. If the output voltage is less than 70% of the set value due to improper start up or output overload, then C3 will set the overload latch L1. Both gate drivers of the channel are turned off and the 10µ A current source discharges CSS. RSS must be large enough to ensure full discharge of CSS down to 0.5V. Soft-start process should be slow enough to allow the output to reach 70% of its final value before hiccup is armed. The overload latch L 1 i s reset when the C SS c apacitor is discharged below 0.5V. The 10µA current source turns off. CSS capacitor is recharged by RSS and the converter undergoes soft-start. If overload persists, the step-down converters will undergo repetitive shutdown and restart (hiccup). If the output is short-circuited, the inductor current will not increase indefinitely between the times the inductor current reaching its current limit and shutdown. This is due to cycle skipping reduces the actual operating frequency. Pulling the SS/EN pin below 0.8V with an open-collector transistor sets the disable latch L2 and turns off the gate drives. The SS/EN pin can be used as the enable input for the controller. The soft start timing diagram and the hiccup operation timing diagram are shown in Figures 6a and 6b respectively.  2006 Semtech Corp. 19 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Applications Information Operating Frequency (fs) The switching frequency in the SC2441A is userprogrammable. The advantages of constant frequency operation are simple passive component selection and fast transient response with simple frequency compensation. Before setting the operating frequency, the following trade-offs should be considered. 1) passive component sizes 2) converter efficiency 3) EMI 4) Minimum switch on time and 5) Maximum duty ratio For a given output power, the sizes of the passive components are inversely proportional to the switching frequency, whereas MOSFET’s/Diodes switching losses are proportional to the operating frequency. Other issues such as heat dissipation, packaging and the cost issues should be considered. The frequency bands for signal transmission should be avoided because of EM interference. The switching frequency of both step-down controllers is set with an external resistor from Pin 10 to the signal ground. The set frequency is inversely proportional to the resistor value (Figure 7) and can be approximated as: ROSC = 101618 × FSW -1.22 ROSC vs. Step-down Channel Switching Frequency Rosc vs Single Channel Switching Frequency 150 130 110 ROSC (KW ) 90 70 50 30 10 100 300 500 700 900 1100 Switching Frequency (KHz) Figure 7. ROSC vs. Step-down Channel Free-running Frequency Minimum Switch On Time Limitation In both step-down controllers, the falling edge of the clock turns on the top MOSFET. The inductor current ramps up so does the sensed voltage. After the sensed voltage crosses a threshold determined by the error amplifier output, the top MOSFET is turned off. The propagation delay time from the turn-on of the controlling FET to its turn-off is the minimum switch on time. The SC2441A has a minimum on time of about 180ns at room temperature. This is the shortest on interval of the controlling FET. The controller either does not turn on the top MOSFET at all or turns it on for at least 180ns. For a synchronous step-down converter, the operating duty cycle is VO /VIN. So the required on time for the top MOSFET is VO/(VINfS). If the frequency is set such that the required pulse width is less than 180ns, then the converter will start skipping cycles. Due to minimum on time limitation, simultaneously operating at very high ROSC is in KΩ and FSW is in KHz. The internal oscillator starts to operate once VIN exceeds its UVLO threshold. The oscillator output, CLK, (see Figure 2) clocks the step-up converter. The frequency divider generates two out-of-phase clocks, CLK1 and CLK2, at a half of CLK frequency. CLK1 and CLK2 clock the stepdown channels. The switching frequency of the step-up converter is twice those of the step-down controllers. If both step-down channels are running at 250KHz, then the boost section will be running at 500KHz.  2006 Semtech Corp. 20 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Applications Information switching frequency and very short duty cycle is not practical. If the input voltage is 3.3V and the operating frequency is 1MHz, the lowest output voltage will be 0.6V. There will not be enough modulation headroom if the on time is simply made equal to the minimum on time of the SC2441A. For ease of control, we recommend that the required pulse width be at least 1.5 times the minimum on time. Maximum Duty-cycle Consideration C8 C2 GND 9 SC2441A VIN 1 R2 VCC PGND1 24 21 R6 The top MOSFET turns off for at least 200ns every cycle regardless of the switching frequency. This places an upper bound on the voltage conversion ratio at a given switching frequency. If the desired output voltage requires high operating dutycycle, then operating frequency will have to be lowered to allow modulating headroom. RC Filtering network for VCC and VIN pins A RC filtering network is recommended for the SC2441A VCC and VIN pin connections. As shown in Figure 1, R6 plus C8 and R2 plus C2 are the filtering networks for VCC pin and VIN pin respectively. The value of the R6 and R2 ranges from 3.3Ω to 5.11Ω. C8 and C2 should be larger than 1µF. C8 and C2 are the decoupling capacitors for the VCC pin and VIN pin. They should be placed as close as possible to the pins of the SC2441A to achieve the best decoupling performance. Due to the different functionalities of the VCC pin and VIN pin, C2 should be placed between the VIN pin and the signal ground of the SC2441A. And C8 should be placed between the VCC pin and the power ground of the SC2441A. The recommended connections for the VCC pin and VIN pin are illustrated in Figure 8. Figure 8. RC Network Connections for VIN and VCC pins Step-Up Converter The SC2441A features a step-up regulator and two stepdown controllers. The boost section of the SC2441A comprises of pins 7, 8, 26 and 27. Pin 26 is the independent power ground for the boost converter section, which should be separated from the step-down section power ground pin 24 in layout to minimize the noise influence. The boost section in SC2441A has an internal reference set at 1.25V. The output of the boost section can be programmed with external resistors R1 and R4 as shown in Figure 1. VBOOST = 1.25V ´ R1 + R 4 R4 SC2441A utilizes a transconductance error amplifier for the step-up controller and it can be compensated with C3, R5 and C5 as shown in Figure 1. The step-up controller in the SC2441A employs cycle-by-cycle peak current limit to protect the internal switching transistor. Current limit threshold is typically 0.8A. In the applications where only low input voltage is available, the step-up converter in the SC2441A is very useful for generating an auxiliary output to power the gate drive of the step-down controllers.  2006 Semtech Corp. 21 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Applications Information Assuming that the efficiency of the boost converter is η and the boost converter is running in CCM with duty ratio D. The peak inductor current is IL1PEAK = L1 SW3 SC2441A 24 27 Small Loop D1 VIN Vo3 × Io3 Vin 1 + ×D × T × Vin × h L1 2 The saturation current rating of the selected inductor should be at least 1.2 times of the calculated peak current value. Step-up Converter Capacitor Selection PGND1 PGND2 VCC 21 C2 26 C1 R1 Figure 9. Step-Up Section Layout Illustration As shown in Figure 9, to minimize the switching noise generated by the step-up converter, the loop formed by D1, C1, SW3 and PGND2 should be as small as possible. And the PGND2 pin should be tied to PGND1 at one spot close to the PGND1 pin. Input capacitor: The input capacitance should be large such that the input transients due to both the step-up and the step-down converters do not trip the UVLO threshold 1.71V. Since the SC2441A controls a 2-phase low input voltage step-down converter, the input capacitance is sized to handle the input ripple current of the buck converter. This is usually sufficient for the auxiliary boost converter because the input current in a boost converter is continuous. Output capacitor: Unlike buck converter, pulse current is delivered to the output of a boost converter. To reduce the output ripple voltage, low ESR capacitors should be used. The output capacitor should also be able handle the output ripple current. The SC2441A is designed to use multi-layer ceramic capacitor as the sole output capacitor. Maximum Output Current of the Step-up Converter Figure 3 shows that the boost switch current is sensed with an internal sense resistor Rs and it is internally limited at 0.6A. So the maximum output current can be given as (η is the efficiency of the step-up section): Io3,max = (0.6A d3 2 Step-up Converter Inductor Selection For a specified inductor current ripple ratio δ3 (peak-topeak current ripple v.s. actual input current IIN), the inductor value is L1 = Vin VV (1 - in ) in . fs3 d3Io3 Vo3 Vo3 )× Vin × h Vo3 Typically, select δ3 1V. The internal clock is brought out to the CKOUT pin. The signal at CKOUT pin can be used as the synchronizing clock for other SC2441As in a master-slave configuration. With an arbitrary selection of get C1=83nF. Since 83nF is not a standard capacitance value, we use 100nF capacitor for C1. Consequently, R ×R 2 3 = 2.5KW . And we can also derive: R +R 2 3 1µA × 2.5KW + R1 5A ö æ × 2.5KWç 28A + ÷ = 25mV R2 2ø è R2 = 6.80K W R3 = 3.92KW Pre-biased Start Up Sometimes the step-down converter is to start into a pre-biased output load. The pre-biased voltage is normally lower than the output setpoint of the step-down converter. As described earlier, pre-bias startup process with the SC2441A is seamless. The testing setup of the pre-biased start-up is shown as in Figure 14. Module under Test + VO RLOAD - D1 Blocking Diode Vs External Voltage Source Figure 14. Test Setup for Pre-biased Start Up  2006 Semtech Corp. 25 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Applications Information Master - Slave Mode Configuration The configuration for SC2441A master-slave mode operation is shown in Figure 15. The master is made free running, the master clock frequency should be within the synchronizing range of the slave. In the Master-Slave mode, the SS2441A can be synchronized to an external clock signal applied to the SYNC pin. External filtering componets (R1, R2, C1 and C2) on the PLLF pin are necessary for the slave SC2441A . The PLLF pull-up resistor is not necessary for the slave converter. Phase shift between the master and the slave is the phase lag measured between the sync input and the clock output of the slave. Typical relationship between the phase shift and the slave value of the resistor R2 is shown in the “Typical Characteristics”. For the SC2441A running at slave mode, its free-runing frequency (internal switching frequency) set with ROSC should be programmed 20% higher than the external synchronization frequency. VIN As shown in Figure 15, the CKOUT signal of the master SC2441A is the input sync signal for the slave SC2441A. The R1, C1 and C2 constitute the filtering circuit stabilizing the phase lock loop in the slave SC2441A. R2 (between 30kΩ and 150kΩ) determines the phase shift between the slave CKOUT and its SYNC input. PLL Frequency Compensation Applying synchronizing clock with step change in frequency adjust compensation components until overshoot and ringing at PLLF pin is minimized. Output Inductor and Ripple Current in Step-down Sections Both step-down controllers in the SC2441A operate in synchronous continuous-conduction mode (CCM) regardless of the output load. The output inductor selection/design is based on the output DC and transient requirements. Both output current and voltage ripples are reduced with larger inductors but it takes longer to change the inductor current during load transients. Conversely smaller inductors results in lower DC copper losses but the AC core losses (flux swing) and the winding AC resistance losses are higher. A compromise is to choose the inductance such that the peak to peak inductor ripple current is 20% to 30% of the rated output current. Assume that the inductor current ripple (peak-to-peak) is δ∗Ιο Then the inductance will be SYNC R4 PLLF R3 Master SC2441A CKOUT L= The peak current in the inductor becomes (1+δ/2)*Io and the RMS current is IL,rms = Io 1 + d2 . 12 Vo (1 - D) . dIo fs SYNC PLLF Slave SC2441A CKOUT R1 C2 C1 R2 The followings are to be considered when choosing inductors. a) Inductor core material: For high efficiency applications above 350KHz, ferrite, Kool-Mu and polypermalloy materials should be used. Low-cost powdered iron cores can be used for cost sensitive-applications below 350KHz but with attendant higher core losses. 26 www.semtech.com Figure 15. Master-Slave Synchronization  2006 Semtech Corp. SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Applications Information b) Select inductance value: Sometimes the calculated inductance value is not available off-the-shelf. The designer can choose the adjacent (larger) standard inductance value. The inductance varies with temperature and DC current. It is a good engineering practice to re-evaluate the resultant current ripple at the rated DC output current. c) Current rating: The saturation current of the inductor should be at least 1.5 times of the peak inductor current under all conditions. Output Capacitor (Co) and V out Ripple in Step-down Sections The output capacitor provides output current filtering in steady state and serves as a reservoir during load transient. The output capacitor can be modeled as an ideal capacitor in series with its parasitic ESR (Resr) and ESL (Lesl) (Figure 16). Co Since the inductor current is a triangular waveform with peak-to-peak value δ * Io, the ripple-voltage caused by inductor current ripples is Dv C » dIo . 8Co fs The ripple-voltage due to ESL is Dv ESL = L esl fs dIo D and the ESR ripple-voltage is Dv ESR = R esr dIo . Aluminum capacitors (e.g. electrolytic, solid OS-CON, POSCAP, tantalum) have high capacitances and low ESL’s. The ESR has the dominant effect on the output ripple voltage. It is therefore very important to minimize the ESR. When determining the ESR value, both the steady state ripple-voltage and the dynamic load transient need to be considered. To keep the steady state output ripple-voltage < ∆Vo, the ESR should satisfy R esr1 < DVo . dIo ib(t) Lesl Resr Figure 16. Co equivalent circuit If the current through the branch is ib(t), the voltage across the terminals will then be v o ( t ) = Vo + di ( t ) 1 ib ( t )dt + L esl b + R esr ib ( t ). dt Co 0 To limit the dynamic output voltage overshoot/ undershoot within α (say 3%) of the steady state output voltage) under 0 to full load current swing, the ESR value should be R esr 2 < a Vo . Io ò t The required ESR value of the output capacitors should be Resr = min{Resr1,Resr2 }. In the aluminum capacitor selection, the working voltage rating is normally suggested to be greater than 1.5Vo. The allowable current ripple (RMS) should be greater than This basic equation illustrates the effects of ESR, ESL and Co on the output voltage. The first term is the DC voltage across Co at time t=0. The second term is the ripple-voltage caused by the inductor ripple-current. The third term is the voltage ripple due to ESL and the fourth term is the voltage ripple due to ESR. The total output voltage ripple is then a vector sum of the last three terms.  2006 Semtech Corp. 27 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Applications Information dIo 23 . R eq (w ) := R1aR1b (R1a + R1b )w 2C1a C1b + (R1b C1b + R1a C1a ) (R1a + R1b )2 w 2 C1a C1b + (C1a + C1b )2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Usually it is necessary to have several capacitors of the same type in parallel to satisfy the ESR requirement. The voltage ripple cause by the capacitor charge/ discharge should be an order of magnitude smaller than the voltage ripple caused by the ESR. To guarantee this, the capacitance should satisfy Co > 10 . 2pfsR esr where R 1a a nd C 1a a re the ESR and capacitance of electrolytic capacitors, and R1b and C1b are the ESR and capacitance of the ceramic capacitors respectively (Figure 17). C1a C1b Ceq In many application circuits, several low ESR ceramic capacitors are added in parallel with the aluminum capacitors to further reduce ESR and improve high frequency decoupling. Since the capacitances and the ESR’s of ceramic and aluminum capacitors are different, the following remarks are made to clarify some practical issues. Remark 1: High frequency ceramic capacitors may not carry most of the ripple current. It also depends on the capacitor value. Only when the capacitor value is set properly, the effect of ceramic capacitor low ESR starts to be significant. For example, if a 10 µ F, 4m Ω c eramic capacitor is connected in parallel with 2x1500µF, 90mΩ electrolytic capacitors, the ripple current in the ceramic capacitor is only about 42% of the current in the electrolytic capacitors at the ripple frequency. If a 100µF, 2m Ω ceramic capacitor is used, the ripple current in the ceramic capacitor will be about 4.2 times of that in the electrolytic capacitors. When two 100µF, 2mΩ ceramic capacitors are used, the current ratio increases to 8.3. In this case most of the ripple current flows in the ceramic decoupling capacitor. The ESR of the ceramic capacitors will then determine the output ripple-voltage. Remark 2: The total equivalent capacitance of the filter bank is not simply the sum of all the paralleled capacitors. The total equivalent ESR is not simply the parallel combination of all the individual ESR’s either. Instead they should be calculated using the following formulae. (R1a + R1b )2 w 2C1a C1b + (C1a + C1b )2 (R1a C1a + R1b C1b )w 2 C1a C1b + (C1a + C1b ) 2 2 2 2 R1a R1b Req Figure 17. Equivalent RC branch. Req and Ceq are both functions of frequency. For rigorous design, the equivalent ESR should be evaluated at the ripple frequency for voltage ripple calculation when both ceramic and electrolytic capacitors are used. If R1a = R1b = R1 and C1a = C1b = C1, then Req and Ceq will be frequencyindependent and Req = 1/2 R1 and Ceq = 2C1. Input Capacitor (Cin) in Step-down Sections The input supply to the converter usually comes from a pre-regulator. Since the input supply is not ideal, input capacitors are needed to filter the current pulses at the switching frequency. A simple buck converter is shown in Figure 18. C eq (w ) := Figure 18. Buck converter input model As shown in Fig. 18, the internal DC input voltage source 28 www.semtech.com  2006 Semtech Corp. SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Applications Information impedance is Rin and the input capacitor Cin has an ESR denoted as Resr. MOSFET and input capacitor current waveforms, ESR voltage ripple and input voltage ripple are shown in Figure 19. d Dv ESR = R esr (1 + )Io . 2 The peak-to-peak input voltage ripple due to the capacitor is Dv C » DIo . Cin fs From these two expressions, Cin can be found to meet the input voltage ripple specification. In a multi-phase converter, channel interleaving can be used to reduce ripple. The two step-down channels of the SC2441A operate at 180 degrees from each other. If both stepdown channels in the SC2441A are connected in parallel, both the input and the output RMS currents will be reduced. Figure 19. Typical waveforms at the input of a buck converter. It can be seen that the current in the input capacitor pulses with high di/dt. Capacitors with low ESL should be used. It is also important to place the input capacitor close to the MOSFET’s on the PC board to reduce trace inductances around the pulse current loop. The RMS value of the capacitor current is approximately ICin = Io D[(1 + d2 D D )(1 - )2 + 2 (1 - D) ]. 12 h h Ripple cancellation effect of interleaving allows the use of smaller input capacitors. When converter outputs are connected in parallel and interleaved, smaller inductors and capacitors can be used for each channel. The total output ripple-voltage remains unchanged. Smaller inductors speeds up output load transient. When two channels with a common input are interleaved, the total DC input current is simply the sum of the individual DC input currents. The combined input current waveform depends on duty ratio and the output current waveform. Assuming that the output current ripple is small, the following formula can be used to estimate the RMS value of the ripple current in the input capacitor. Let the duty ratios and output currents of Channel 1 and Channel 2 be D1, D2 and Io1, Io2 respectively. If D10.5 and D2 > 0.5, then ICin » (D1 + D 2 - 1)(Io1 + Io 2 )2 + (1 - D 2 )Io1 + (1 - D1 )Io2 . 2 2 The losses in power MOSFET’s consist of a) conduction loss due to the channel resistance Rds(on), b) switching loss due to the switch rise time tr and fall time tf and c) the gate loss due to the gate resistance RG. Top Switch: The RMS value of the top switch current is IQ1,rms = Io D(1 + d2 12 Power MOSFET Selection and Gate Drive Main considerations in selecting the MOSFET’s are power dissipation, cost and packaging. Switching losses and conduction losses of the MOSFET’s are directly related to the total gate charge (Cg) and channel on-resistance (Rds(on)). In order to judge the performance of MOSFET’s, the product of the total gate charge and on-resistance is used as a figure of merit (FOM). Transistors with the same FOM follow the same curve in Figure 20. ). Its conduction loss is then Ptc = IQ1,rms2 Rds(on). Rds(on) varies with temperature and gate-source voltage. Curves showing R ds(on) v ariations can be found in manufacturers’ data sheet. From the Si7882DP datasheet, Rds(on) is less than 4.5mOhm when Vgs is greater than 5V. However Rds(on) increases by nearly 40% as the junction temperature increases from 25°C to 125°C. The switching losses can be estimated using the simple formula 50 Gate Charge (nC) 40 Cg( 100 , Rds) Cg( 200 , Rds) Cg( 500 , Rds) 20 1 0 0 1 5 10 15 20 20 FOM:100*10^{-12} FOM:200*10^{-12} FOM:500*10^{-12} Rds On-resistance (mOhm) d 1 Pts = 2 ( t r + t f )(1 + 2 )Io Vin f s . Figure 20. Figure of merit curves. The closer the curve is to the origin, the lower is the FOM. This means lower switching loss or lower conduction loss or both. It is difficult to find MOSFET’s with both low Cg and low Rds(on). Usually a trade-off between Rds(on) and Cg has to be made. MOSFET selection also depends on applications. In many applications, either switching loss or conduction loss dominates for a particular MOSFET. For synchronous buck converters with high input to output voltage ratios, the top MOSFET is hard switched but conducts with very low duty cycle. The bottom switch conducts at high duty cycle but switches at near zero voltage. For such applications, MOSFET’s with low Cg are used for the top switch and MOSFET’s with low Rds(on) are used for the bottom switch.  2006 Semtech Corp. where tr is the rise time and tf is the fall time of the switching process. To clarify these, we sketch the typical MOSFET switching characteristics under clamped inductive mode in Figure 21. Figure 21. MOSFET switching characteristics 30 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Applications Information In Figure 21, Qgs1 is the gate charge needed to bring the gate-to-source voltage Vgs to the threshold Vgs_th, Qgs2 is the additional gate charge required for the switch current to reach its full-scale value Ids and . Qgd is the charge needed to charge gate-to-drain (Miller) capacitance when Vds is falling. Switching losses occur during the time interval [t1, t3]. Defining tr = t3-t1. tr can be approximated as tr = (Q gs 2 + Q gd )R gt Vcc - Vgsp . IQ 2,rms = Io (1 - D)(1 + d2 12 ). The conduction loss is then Pbc=IQ2,rms2 Rds(on), where Rds(on) is the channel resistance of bottom MOSFET. If the input voltage to output voltage ratio is high (e.g. Vin=12V, Vo=1.5V), the duty ratio D will be small. Since the bottom switch conducts with duty ratio (1-D), the corresponding conduction losses can be quite high. Due to non-overlapping conduction between the top and the bottom MOSFET’s, the internal body diode or the external Schottky diode across the drain and source terminals always conducts prior to the turn on of the bottom MOSFET. The bottom MOSFET switches on with only a diode voltage between its drain and source terminals. The switching loss d 1 Pbs = 2 ( t r + t f )(1 + 2 )Io Vd fs where Rgt is the total resistance from the driver supply rail to the gate of the MOSFET. It includes the gate driver internal impedance Rgi, external resistance Rge and the gate resistance Rg within the MOSFET i.e. Rgt = Rgi+Rge+Rg. Vgsp is the Miller plateau voltage shown in Figure 21. Similarly an approximate expression for tf is tf = (Qgs2 + Qgd )Rgt Vgsp . is negligible due to near zero-voltage switching. The gate loss is estimated as Pbg = Rg R gt Q g Vcc fs . The total bottom switch loss is then Pb=Pbc+Pbs+Pbg. Once the power losses Ploss for the top (Pt) and bottom (Pb) MOSFET’s are known, thermal and package design at component and system level should be done to verify that the maximum die junction temperature (Tj,max, usually 125oC) is not exceeded under the worst-case conditions. The equivalent thermal impedance from junction to ambient (θja) should satisfy q ja £ Tj,max - Ta,max Ploss . Only a portion of the total losses Pg = QgVccfs is dissipated in the MOSFET package. Here Qg is the total gate charge specified in the datasheet. The power dissipated within the MOSFET package is Ptg = Rg R gt Q g Vcc fs . The total power loss of the top switch is then Pt = Ptc+Pts+Ptg. If the input supply of the power converter varies over a wide range, then it will be necessary to weigh the relative importance of conduction and switching losses. This is because conduction loss is inversely proportional to the input voltage. Switching loss however increases with the input voltage. The total power loss of MOSFET should be calculated and compared for high-line and low-line cases. The worst case is then used for thermal design. Bottom Switch: The RMS current in bottom switch can be calculated θja depends on the die to substrate bonding, packaging material, the thermal contact surface, thermal compound property, the available effective heat sink area and the air flow condition (free or forced convection). Actual temperature measurement of the prototype should be carried out to verify the thermal design. Integrated Power MOSFET Drivers There are four internal MOSFET drivers in a dualchannel step-down converter.  2006 Semtech Corp. 31 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Applications Information Using low gate charge MOSFETs reduces switching loss. It is possible to trade driver IC losses for MOSFET switching losses by adjusting the gate resistance. Lower gate resistance results in higher gate driving current and faster MOSFET switching. However the driver incurs higher losses. Conversely higher gate drive resistance limits the gate drive current, thus lowering the driver dissipation. MOSFET switching loss is higher. To prevent shoot-through between the top and the bottom MOSFETs during commutation, one MOSFET should be completely turned off before the other is turned on. The SC2441A uses adaptive non-overlapping timing to prevent shoot-through. Optimize MOSFET Driving Voltage Ro1 (Ohm) 200 806 1K 1.4K 1K 2K 1K 2.61K 4.02K 5.62K 1K 1K 1K Once either R o1 o r R o2 i s chosen, the other can be calculated for the desired output voltage Vo. Since the number of standard resistance values is limited, the calculated resistance may not be available as a standard value resistor. As a result, there will be a set error in the converter output voltage. This non-random error is The following table lists a few standard resistor combinations for realizing some commonly used output voltages. Vo (V) (1- h)/h 0.6 0.2 0.9 0.8 1.2 1.4 1.5 2 1.8 2.6 2.5 4 3.3 5.6 The on-state DC resistance of a MOSFET, R DS_ON, is determined by its gate to source voltage. The higher the VGS, the lower the RDS_ON will be. Once the gate-source voltage exceeds a certain level, the RDS_ON b ecomes relatively constant. There is no benefit except higher dissipation if you further increase the MOSFET gate drive voltage. It is recommended to select gate drive voltage (VCC pin) of the SC2441A in between 5V to 7V. Setting the Output Voltage of the Step-down Section The non-inverting inputs of the error amplifiers are internally biased to 0.5V voltage reference. A simple voltage divider (Ro1 at top and Ro2 at bottom) sets the converter output voltage. Ro2 can be expressed as a function of the voltage feedback gain h=0.5/Vo and Ro1 Ro2 = h R o1. 1- h Ro2 (Ohm) 1K Only the voltages in boldface can be precisely set with standard 1% resistors. The input bias current of the error amplifier also causes an error in the output voltage. The inverting input bias currents of error amplifiers 1 and 2 are –60nA and –280nA respectively. Since the non-inverting input is biased to 0.5V, the percentage error in the second output /[0.5 · voltage will be –100% · (0.28 µ A) · R R o1 o2 (R +R )]. To keep this error below 0.2%, R < 4kΩ. o1 o2 o2 Loop Compensation in Step-down Section The SC2441A uses current-mode control for both stepdown channels. Current-mode control is a dual-loop control system in which the inductor peak current is loosely controlled by the inner current-loop. The higher gain outer loop regulates the output voltage. Since the current loop makes the inductor appear as a current source, the complex high-Q poles of the output LC networks is split into a dominant pole determined by the output capacitor and the load resistance and a high frequency pole. This pole-splitting property of currentmode control greatly simplifies loop compensation. caused by the feedback voltage divider ratio. It cannot be corrected by the feedback loop.  2006 Semtech Corp. 32 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Applications Information The inner current-loop is unstable (sub-harmonic oscillation) unless the inductor current up-slope is steeper than the inductor current down-slope. For stable operation above 50% duty-cycle, a compensation ramp is added to the sensed-current. In the SC2441A the compensation ramp is made duty-ratio dependent. The compensation ramp is approximately VSLOPE (D) = 230mV × D × e 0.734×D D is the duty ratio. CS+ CSx 29 + + + Slope Compensation Voltage Comp FB 0.5V + EA VBE+1.13V +Compensation Network + PWM The slope compensation voltage vs duty ratio is as shown in Figure 22. 0.5 Slope Compensation Voltage (V) 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 Duty Ratio (D) Figure 23. Control Flow Chart with Slope Compensation k Figure 22. Slope Compensation Voltage Waveform Illustrated as the picture above, as the duty ratio increases, the slope compensation voltage added into the control loop increases too. And the control loop including the slope compensation is shown in Figure 23. The voltage transconductance error amplifier (shown in Figure 24) has a gm of 315µA/V. C , C and R construct 23 2 the compensation network for stable operation with optimized load transient response. The feedback gain h and the resistor values are determined using the equations given in the “Setting the Output Voltage” section with h=  2006 Semtech Corp. Figure 24. A simple model of current-mode buck converter For the rated output current Io, the first-order gain k is determined as k= DIo . DVc 0.5 . Vo k is the product of equivalent current sensing Rs and current amplifier gain Gca=29. Furthermore the transfer 33 www.semtech.com SC2441A POWER MANAGEMENT Applications Information function from the voltage error amplifier output vc to the converter output vo can be derived from Figure 24. s 1+ Vo (s) s z1 := Gvc (s) = kR o , s Vc (s) 1+ sp1 P2 is a pole for suppressing high-frequency switching noise. So P2 >> Z2. To simplify design, one usually assumes that C3