ADP3211, ADP3211A
http://onsemi.com
26
about 120°C; therefore, the R
DS(SF)
per MOSFET should
be less than 13.3 mW at room temperature, or 18.8 mW at
high temperature.
Another important factor for the synchronous MOSFET
is the input capacitance and feedback capacitance. The
ratio of the feedback to input must be small (less than 10%
is recommended) to prevent accidentally turning on the
synchronous MOSFETs when the switch node goes high.
The high−side (main) MOSFET must be able to handle
two main power dissipation components: conduction
losses and switching losses. Switching loss is related to the
time for the main MOSFET to turn on and off and to the
current and voltage that are being switched. Basing the
switching speed on the rise and fall times of the gate driver
impedance and MOSFET input capacitance, the following
expression provides an approximate value for the
switching loss per main MOSFET:
P
S(MF)
+ 2 fSW
V
DC
I
O
n
MF
RG nMF C
ISS
(eq. 21)
where:
nMF is the total number of main MOSFETs.
RG is the total gate resistance.
C
ISS
is the input capacitance of the main MOSFET.
The most effective way to reduce switching loss is to use
lower gate capacitance devices.
The conduction loss of the main MOSFET is given by the
following equation:
P
C(MF)
+ D
ƪ
ǒ
I
O
n
MF
Ǔ
2
)
1
12
ǒ
I
R
n
MF
Ǔ
2
ƫ
R
DS(MF)
(eq. 22)
where R
DS(MF)
is the on resistance of the MOSFET.
Typically, a user wants the highest speed (low C
ISS
)
device for a main MOSFET, but such a device usually has
higher on resistance. Therefore, the user must select a
device that meets the total power dissipation (about 0.8 W
to 1.0 W for an 8−lead SOIC) when combining the
switching and conduction losses.
For example, an NTMFS4821N device can be selected
as the main MOSFET (one in total; that is, nMF = 1), with
approximately C
ISS
= 1400 pF (maximum) and R
DS(MF)
=
8.6 mW (maximum at TJ = 120°C), and an NTMFS4846N
device can be selected as the synchronous MOSFET (two
in total; that is, nSF = 2), with R
DS(SF)
= 3.8 mW (maximum
at TJ = 120°C). Solving for the power dissipation per
MOSFET at IO = 15 A and IR = 5.0 A yields 178 mW for
each synchronous MOSFET and 446 mW for each main
MOSFET. A third synchronous MOSFET is an option to
further increase the conversion efficiency and reduce
thermal stress.
Finally, consider the power dissipation in the driver. This
is best described in terms of the QG for the MOSFETs and
is given by the following equation:
ƪ
f
SW
2
(nMF Q
GMF
) nSF Q
GSF
) ) I
CC
ƫ
VCC
(eq. 23)
P
DRV
+
where Q
GMF
is the total gate charge for each main
MOSFET, and Q
GSF
is the total gate charge for each
synchronous MOSFET.
The previous equation also shows the standby dissipation
(ICC times the VCC) of the driver.
Current Limit Set−Point
To select the current limit set point, we need to find the
resistor value for R
LIM
. The current limit threshold for the
ADP3211 is set when the current in R
LIM
is equal to the
internal reference current of 20 mA. The current in R
LIM
is
equal to the inductor current times RO. R
LIM
can be found
using the following equation:
R
LIM
+
I
LIM
R
O
20 mA
(eq. 24)
where:
R
LIM
is the current limit resistor. R
LIM
is connected from
the I
LIM
pin to the CSCOMP pin.
RO is the output load line resistance.
I
LIM
is the current limit set point. This is the peak inductor
current that will trip current limit.
In this example, if choosing 20 A for I
LIM
, R
LIM
is
6.9 kW, which is close to a standard 1% resistance of
6.98 kW.
The per phase current limit described earlier has its limit
determined by the following:
I
PHLIM
^
V
COMP(MAX)
* VR* V
BIAS
AD R
DS(MAX)
)
I
R
2
(eq. 25)
For the ADP3211, the maximum COMP voltage
(V
COMP(MAX)
) is 3.3 V, the COMP pin bias voltage (V
BIAS
)
is 1.0 V, and the current balancing amplifier gain (AD) is 5.
Using a VR of 0.55 V, and a R
DS(MAX)
of 3.8 mW (low−side
on−resistance at 150°C) results in a per phase limit of 85 A.
Although this number seems high, this current level can
only be reached with a absolute short at the output and the
current limit latchoff function shutting down the regulator
before overheating occurs.
This limit can be adjusted by changing the ramp voltage
VR. However, users should not set the per phase limit lower
than the average per phase current (I
LIM
/n).
There is also a per phase initial duty−cycle limit at
maximum input voltage:
D
LIM
+ D
MIN
V
COMP(MAX)
* V
BIAS
V
R
(eq. 26)
RC Snubber
It is important in any buck topology to use a
resistor−capacitor snubber across the low side power
MOSFET. The RC snubber dampens ringing on the switch