MAX8741/MAX8742
500kHz Multi-Output Power-Supply Controllers 
with High Impedance in Shutdown
24 ______________________________________________________________________________________
Rectifier Diode (Transformer Secondary Diode)
The secondary diode in coupled-inductor applications 
must withstand flyback voltages greater than 60V, 
which usually rules out most Schottky rectifiers. 
Common silicon rectifiers, such as the 1N4001, are also 
prohibited because they are too slow. This often makes 
fast silicon rectifiers such as the MURS120 the only 
choice. The flyback voltage across the rectifier is related to the VIN- V
OUT
difference, according to the trans-
former turns ratio:
V
FLYBACK
= V
SEC
+ (VIN- V
OUT
) ✕N
where: 
N = the transformer turns ratio SEC/PRI 
V
SEC
= the maximum secondary DC output voltage
V
OUT
= the primary (main) output voltage
Subtract the main output voltage (V
OUT
) from 
V
FLYBACK
in this equation if the secondary winding is
returned to V
OUT
and not to ground. The diode reversebreakdown rating must also accommodate any ringing 
due to leakage inductance. The rectifier diode’s current 
rating should be at least twice the DC load current on 
the secondary output.
Low-Voltage Operation
Low input voltages and low input-output differential voltages each require extra care in their design. Low 
absolute input voltages can cause the V
L
linear regulator 
to enter dropout and eventually shut itself off. Low input 
voltages relative to the output (low V
IN
- V
OUT
differential) 
can cause bad load regulation in multi-output flyback 
applications (see the design equations in the Transformer 
Design section). Also, low VIN- V
OUT
differentials can 
also cause the output voltage to sag when the load current changes abruptly. The amplitude of the sag is a 
function of inductor value and maximum duty factor (an 
Electrical Characteristics parameter, 97% guaranteed 
over temperature at f = 333kHz), as follows:
The cure for low-voltage sag is to increase the output 
capacitor’s value. Take a 333kHz/6A application circuit 
as an example, at V
IN
= +5.5V, V
OUT
= +5V, L = 6.7µH,
f = 333kHz, I
STEP
= 3A (half-load step), a total capacitance of 470µF keeps the sag less than 200mV. The 
capacitance is higher than that shown in the Typical 
Application Circuit because of the lower input voltage. 
Note that only the capacitance requirement increases
and the ESR requirements do not change. Therefore, 
the added capacitance can be supplied by a low-cost 
bulk capacitor in parallel with the normal low-ESR 
capacitor.
Applications Information
Heavy-Load Efficiency Considerations
The major efficiency-loss mechanisms under loads are, 
in the usual order of importance:
• P(I2R) = I2R losses
• P(tran) = transition losses
• P(gate) = gate-charge losses
• P(diode) = diode-conduction losses
• P(cap) = input capacitor ESR losses
• P(IC) = losses due to the IC’s operating supply current 
Inductor core losses are fairly low at heavy loads
because the inductor’s AC current component is small. 
Therefore, they are not accounted for in this analysis. 
Ferrite cores are preferred, especially at 300kHz, but 
powdered cores, such as Kool-Mu, can work well:
Efficiency = P
OUT/PIN
✕
100% = P
OUT
/(P
OUT
+ P
TOTAL
)
✕
100%
P
TOTAL
= P(I2R) + P(tran) + P(gate) + P(diode) +
P(cap) + P(IC) 
P (I2R) = I
LOAD
2
x (RDC+ R
DS(ON)
+ R
SENSE
)
where RDCis the DC resistance of the coil, R
DS(ON)
is
the MOSFET on-resistance, and R
SENSE
is the current-
sense resistor value. The R
DS(ON)
term assumes identical MOSFETs for the high-side and low-side switches 
because they time-share the inductor current. If the 
MOSFETs are not identical, their losses can be estimated by averaging the losses according to duty factor: 
where C
RSS
is the reverse transfer capacitance of the
high-side MOSFET (a data sheet parameter), I
GATE
is 
the DH gate-driver peak output current (1.5A typ), and 
20ns is the rise/fall time of the DH driver (20ns typ):
P(gate) = Q
G
✕f ✕
V
L
where VLis the internal-logic-supply voltage (5V), and 
QGis the sum of the gate-charge values for low-side 
and high-side switches. For matched MOSFETs, Q
G
is 
twice the data sheet value of an individual MOSFET. If 
V
OUT
is set to less than 4.5V, replace VLin this equa-
tion with V
BATT
. In this case, efficiency can be