Lead Plating System
G : Green (Halogen Free and Pb Free)
UVP Option
H : Hiccup
A : PSM Mode
B : PWM Mode
3J=DNN
3J= : Product Code
DNN : Date Code
RT6211AHGE
39=DNN
39= : Product Code
DNN : Date Code
RT6211BHGE
EN
RT6211A/B
GND
VIN
V
IN
C
IN
BOOT
L
C
BOOT
LX
Enable
FB
C
OUT
V
OUT
R1
R2
C
FF
1.5A, 18V, 500kHz, ACOTTM Step-Down Converter
General Description
The RT6211A/B is a high-efficiency, monolithic
synchronous step-down DC/DC converter that can
deliver up to 1.5A output current from a 4.5V to 18V
input supply. The RT6211A/B adopts ACOT
architecture to allow the transient response to be
improved and keep in constant frequency.
Cycle-by-cycle current limit provides protection against
shorted outputs and soft-start eliminates input current
surge during start-up. Fault conditions also include
output under voltage protection, output over current
protection, and thermal shutdown.
Ordering Information
Features
Integrated 230m/130m MOSFETs
4.5V to 18V Supply Voltage Range
500kHz Switching Frequency
ACOT Control
0.8V 1.5% Voltage Reference
Internal Start-Up into Pre-biased Outputs
Compact Package : SOT-23-6 pin
High/Low Side Over-Current Protection and
Suitable for use in SnPb or Pb-free soldering processes.
1
RT6211A/B
VIN
GND
LX
FB
ENBOOT
4
23
56
Pin No.
Pin Name
Pin Function
1
VIN
Power Input. Supplies the power switches of the device.
2
GND
System Ground. Provides the ground return path for the control circuitry and
low-side power MOSFET.
3
LX
Switch Node. LX is the switching node that supplies power to the output and
connect the output LC filter from LX to the output load.
4
BOOT
Bootstrap Supply for High-Side Gate Driver. Connect a 100nF or greater
capacitor from LX to BOOT to power the high-side switch.
5
EN
Enable Control Input. Floating this pin or connecting this pin to logic high can
enable the device and connecting this pin to GND can disable the device.
6
FB
Feedback Voltage Input. This pin is used to set the desired output voltage via
an external resistive divider. The feedback voltage is 0.8V typically.
The RT6211A/B are high-performance 500kHz 1.5A
step-down regulators with internal power switches and
synchronous rectifiers. They feature an Advanced
Constant On-Time (ACOTTM) control architecture that
provides stable operation with ceramic output
capacitors without complicated external compensation,
among other benefits. The input voltage range is from
4.5V to 18V and the output is adjustable from 0.8V to
6.3V.
The proprietary ACOTTM control scheme improves
upon other constant on-time architectures, achieving
nearly constant switching frequency over line, load, and
output voltage ranges. The RT6211A/B are optimized
for ceramic output capacitors. Since there is no internal
clock, response to transients is nearly instantaneous
and inductor current can ramp quickly to maintain
output regulation without large bulk output capacitance.
Constant On-Time (COT) Control
The heart of any COT architecture is the on-time
one-shot. Each on-time is a pre-determined “fixed”
period that is triggered by a feedback comparator. This
robust arrangement has high noise immunity and is
ideal for low duty cycle applications. After the on-time
one-shot period, there is a minimum off-time period
before any further regulation decisions can be
considered. This arrangement avoids the need to make
any decisions during the noisy time periods just after
switching events, when the switching node (LX) rises or
falls. Because there is no fixed clock, the high-side
switch can turn on almost immediately after load
transients and further switching pulses can ramp the
inductor current higher to meet load requirements with
minimal delays.
Traditional current mode or voltage mode control
schemes typically must monitor the feedback voltage,
current signals (also for current limit), and internal
ramps and compensation signals, to determine when to
turn off the high-side switch and turn on the
synchronous rectifier. Weighing these small signals in a
switching environment is difficult to do just after
switching large currents, making those architectures
problematic at low duty cycles and in less than ideal
board layouts.
Because no switching decisions are made during noisy
time periods, COT architectures are preferable in low
duty cycle and noisy applications. However, traditional
COT control schemes suffer from some disadvantages
that preclude their use in many cases. Many
applications require a known switching frequency
range to avoid interference with other sensitive circuitry.
True constant on-time control, where the on-time is
actually fixed, exhibits variable switching frequency. In
a step-down converter, the duty factor is proportional to
the output voltage and inversely proportional to the
input voltage. Therefore, if the on-time is fixed, the
off-time (and therefore the frequency) must change in
response to changes in input or output voltage.
Modern pseudo-fixed frequency COT architectures
greatly improve COT by making the one-shot on-time
proportional to V
and inversely proportional to VIN.
OUT
In this way, an on-time is chosen as approximately
what it would be for an ideal fixed-frequency PWM in
similar input/output voltage conditions. The result is a
big improvement but the switching frequency still varies
considerably over line and load due to losses in the
switches and inductor and other parasitic effects.
Another problem with many COT architectures is their
dependence on adequate ESR in the output capacitor,
making it difficult to use highly-desirable, small,
low-cost, but low-ESR ceramic capacitors. Most COT
architectures use AC current information from the
output capacitor, generated by the inductor current
passing through the ESR, to function in a way like a
current mode control system. With ceramic capacitors,
the inductor current information is too small to keep the
control loop stable, like a current mode system with no
current information.
ACOTTM Control Architecture
Making the on-time proportional to V
and inversely
OUT
proportional to VIN is not sufficient to achieve good
constant-frequency behavior for several reasons. First,
voltage drops across the MOSFET switches and
inductor cause the effective input voltage to be less
than the measured input voltage and the effective
output voltage to be greater than the measured output
voltage. As the load changes, the switch voltage drops
change causing a switching frequency variation with
load current. Also, at light loads if the inductor current
goes negative, the switch dead-time between the
synchronous rectifier turn-off and the high-side switch
turn-on allows the switching node to rise to the input
voltage. This increases the effective on-time and
causes the switching frequency to drop noticeably.
One way to reduce these effects is to measure the
actual switching frequency and compare it to the
desired range. This has the added benefit eliminating
the need to sense the actual output voltage, potentially
saving one pin connection. ACOTTM uses this method,
measuring the actual switching frequency (at SW) and
modifying the on-time with a feedback loop to keep the
average switching frequency in the desired range.
To achieve good stability with low-ESR ceramic
capacitors, ACOTTM uses a virtual inductor current
ramp generated inside the IC. This internal ramp signal
replaces the ESR ramp normally provided by the output
capacitor's ESR. The ramp signal and other internal
compensations are optimized for low-ESR ceramic
output capacitors.
ACOTTM One-shot Operation
The RT6211A/B control algorithm is simple to
understand. The feedback voltage, with the virtual
inductor current ramp added, is compared to the
reference voltage. When the combined signal is less
than the reference the on-time one-shot is triggered, as
long as the minimum off-time one-shot is clear and the
measured inductor current (through the synchronous
rectifier) is below the current limit. The on-time
one-shot turns on the high-side switch and the inductor
current ramps up linearly. After the on-time, the
high-side switch is turned off and the synchronous
rectifier is turned on and the inductor current ramps
down linearly. At the same time, the minimum off-time
one-shot is triggered to prevent another immediate
on-time during the noisy switching time and allow the
feedback voltage and current sense signals to settle.
The minimum off-time is kept short (240ns typical) so
that rapidly-repeated on-times can raise the inductor
current quickly when needed.
After soft-start, the RT6211B operates in fixed
frequency mode to minimize interference and noise
problems. The RT6211A uses variable-frequency
discontinuous switching at light loads to improve
efficiency. During discontinuous switching, the on-time
is immediately increased to add “hysteresis” to
discourage the IC from switching back to continuous
switching unless the load increases substantially.
The IC returns to continuous switching as soon as an
on-time is generated before the inductor current
reaches zero. The on-time is reduced back to the
length needed for 500kHz switching and encouraging
the circuit to remain in continuous conduction,
preventing repetitive mode transitions between
continuous switching and discontinuous switching.
Current Limit
The RT6211A/B current limit is a cycle-by-cycle “valley”
type, measuring the inductor current through the
synchronous rectifier during the off-time while the
inductor current ramps down. The current is
determined by measuring the voltage between Source
and Drain of the synchronous rectifier, adding
temperature compensation for greater accuracy. If the
current exceeds the current limit, the on-time one-shot
is inhibited until it drops below the current limit level. If
the output current exceeds the available inductor
current (controlled by the current limit mechanism), the
output voltage will drop. If it drops below the output
under-voltage protection level (see next section) the IC
will stop switching to avoid excessive heat.
The RT6211B also includes a negative current limit to
protect the IC against sinking excessive current and
possibly damaging the IC. If the voltage across the
synchronous rectifier indicates the negative current is
too high, the synchronous rectifier turns off until after
the next high-side on-time. The RT6211A does not sink
current and therefore does not need a negative current
limit.
Hiccup Mode
The RT6211AHGE / RT6211BHGE, use hiccup mode
UVP. When the protection function is triggered, the IC
will shut down for a period of time and then attempt to
recover automatically. Hiccup mode allows the circuit to
RT6211A/B
operate safely with low input current and power
dissipation, and then resume normal operation as soon
as the overload or short circuit is removed.
Input Under-Voltage Lockout
To protect the chip from operating at insufficient supply
voltage, the UVLO is needed. When the input voltage
of VIN is lower than the UVLO falling threshold voltage,
the device will be lockout.
Shut-down, Start-up and Enable (EN)
The enable input (EN) has a logic-low level. When VEN
is below this level the IC enters shutdown mode and
supply current drops to less than 6A. When VEN
exceeds its logic-high level the IC is fully operational.
External Bootstrap Capacitor
Connect a 0.1F low ESR ceramic capacitor between
BOOT and SW. This bootstrap capacitor provides the
gate driver supply voltage for the high side N-channel
MOSFET switch.
Over-Temperature Protection
The RT6211A/B includes an over-temperature
protection (OTP) circuitry to prevent overheating due to
excessive power dissipation. The OTP will shut down
switching operation when the junction temperature
exceeds 150C. Once the junction temperature cools
down by approximately 20C the IC will resume normal
operation. For continuous operation, provide adequate
cooling so that the junction temperature does not
exceed 150C.
UVP Protection
The RT6211A/B detects under-voltage conditions by
monitoring the feedback voltage on FB pin. The
function is enabled after approximately 1.7 times the
soft-start time. When the feedback voltage is lower
than 50% of the target voltage, the UVP comparator will
go high to turn off both internal high-side and low-side
MOSFETs.
Supply Input Voltage --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.3V to 20V
Switch Voltage, SW ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.8V to (V
+ 0.3V)
IN
<10ns ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5V to 25V
Switch Node Voltage, LX ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.3V to (V
BOOT Pin Voltage ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (V
Other Pins ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.3V to 6V
Power Dissipation, P
Lead Temperature (Soldering, 10 sec.) ---------------------------------------------------------- 260C
Junction Temperature -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 150C
Storage Temperature Range ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 65C to 150C
ESD Susceptibility (Note 3)
HBM (Human Body Model) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2kV
Recommended Operating Conditions (Note 4)
Supply Input Voltage --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.5V to 18V
Ambient Temperature Range----------------------------------------------------------------------- 40C to 85C
Junction Temperature Range ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 40C to 125C
Electrical Characteristics
(VIN = 12V, TA = 25C, unless otherwise specified)