5.1V TO 40V OUTPUTVOLTAGERANGE
0 TO 90% DUTY CYCLE RANGE
INTERNAL FEED-FORWARD LINE REGULA-
TION
INTERNALCURRENT LIMITING
PRECISE5.1V±2% ONCHIPREFERENCE
RESETANDPOWERFAILFUNCTIONS
SOFTSTART
INPUT/OUTPUTSYNCPIN
UNDER VOLTAGE LOCK OUT WITH HYS-
TERETICTURN-ON
PWM LATCH FOR SINGLE PULSE PER PE-
RIOD
VERYHIGH EFFICIENCY
SWITCHINGFREQUENCYUP TO 500KHz
THERMALSHUTDOWN
CONTINUOUSMODEOPERATION
DESCRIPTION
The L4977A is a stepdown monolithic power
switchingregulator delivering7A at a voltage variable from 5.1 to 40V.
BLOCK DIAGRAM
MULTIPOWER BCD TECHNOLOGY
Multiwatt15V
ORDERING NUMBER:
Realized with BCD mixed technology, the device
uses a DMOS output transistortoobtainvery high
efficiency and very fast switching times. Features
of the L4977A include reset and power fail for microprocessors, feed forward line regulation, soft
start, limiting current and thermal protection. The
device is mounted in a 15-lead multiwatt plastic
power package and requires few external components. Efficient operation at switching frequencies
up to 500KHz allows reduction in the size and
costof externalfilter components.
L4977A
June 2000
This is advanced information on a new product now in development or undergoing evaluation. Details are subject to change without notice.
1/21
L4977A
ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM RATINGS
SymbolParameterValueUnit
V
9
V
9
V
7
I
7
V
6
V
3,V12
V
4
I
4
V
5,V10,V11,V13
I
5
I
10
I
12
P
tot
,T
T
j
stg
Input Voltage55V
Input Operating Voltage50V
Output DC Voltage
Output Peak Voltage at t = 0.1µs f = 200KHz
-1
-7
Maximum Output CurrentInternally Limited
Bootstrap Voltage
Bootstrap Operating Voltage
65
V
+15
9
Input Voltage at Pins 3, 1212V
Reset Output Voltage50V
Reset Output Sink Current50mA
Input Voltage at Pin 5, 10, 11,137V
Reset Delay Sink Current30mA
Error Amplifier Output SinkCurrent1A
Soft Start Sink Current30mA
Total Power Dissipation at T
11FEEDBACK INPUTThe Feedback Terminal of the Regulation Loop. The output is connected
12SOFT STARTSoftStart Time Constant.A capacitor is connected betweenthi sterminal and
13SYNC INPUTMultiple L4977A are synchronizedby connecting pin 13inputs together or via
14V
15V
NameFunction
. External resistor connected to ground determines the constant charging
osc
ref
start
current of C
. External capacitor connected to ground determines (withR
osc
switching frequency.
divider to theinput for power fail function. It must be connected to the pin 14 an
external 30KΩ resistor when power fail signal not required.
supply and the output voltages are safe.
capacitor connected between this terminal and ground determines the
d
reset signal delay time.
boot
drive properly the internal D-MOS transistor.
A series RC network connected between this terminal and ground determines
the regulation loop gain characteristics.
directly to this terminal for 5.1V operation; It is connected via a divider for higher
voltages.
ground to define the soft start time constant.
an external syncr. pulse.
5.1V V
Internal Start-up Circuit to Drive the Power Stage.
.
osc
capacitor connected between this terminal and the output allows to
Device Reference Voltage.
ref
osc
) the
L4977A
CIRCUIT OPERATION
(refer to the block dia-
gram)
The L4977Ais a 7A monolithicstepdownswitching
regulator working in continuous mode realized in
the new BCD Technology. This technologyallows
the integration of isolated vertical DMOS power
transistorsplusmixedCMOS/Bipolartransistors.
The device can deliver 7A at an output voltage
adjustable from 5.1V to 40V, and contains diagnostic and control functions that make it particularly suitable for microprocessorbased systems.
BLOCK DIAGRAM
The block diagram shows the DMOS power transistor and the PWM control loop. Integrated functions include a reference voltage trimmed to 5.1V
± 2%, soft start, undervoltage lockout, oscillator
with feedforward control, pulse by pulse current
limit, thermal shutdown and finally the reset and
power fail circuit. The reset and power fail circuit
provides an output signal for a microprocessorindicating the statusof thesystem.
Device turn on is around 11V with a typical 1V
hysteresis, this threshold provides a correct voltage for the driving stage of the DMOS gate and
the hysteresispreventsinstabilities.
An external bootstrap capacitor charged to 12V
by an internal voltage reference is neededto provide correct gate drive to the power DMOS. The
driving circuit is able to source and sink peak currents of around 0.5A to the gate of the DMOS
transistor. A typical switching time of the current
in the DMOS transistor is 50ns. Due to the fast
commutation switching frequencies up to 500kHz
are possible.
The PWM control loop consists of a sawtooth oscillator, error amplifier, comparator, latch and the
output stage. An error signal is producedby comparing the output voltage with the precise 5.1V ±
2% on chip reference. This error signal is then
compared with the sawtooth oscillator, in order to
generate a fixed frequencypulse width modulated
drive for the output stage. A PWM latch is included to eliminate multiple pulsing within a period even in noisy environments. The gain and
3/21
L4977A
Figure 1:
Figure 2:
FeedforwardWaveform
Soft Start Function
Figure 3:
4/21
LimitingCurrent Function
L4977A
stability of the loop can be adjusted by an external RC network connected to the output of theerror amplifier. A voltage feedforward control has
been added to the oscillator, this maintains superior line regulation over a wide input voltage
range. Closing the loop directly gives an output
voltage of 5.1V, higher voltages are obtained by
inserting a voltagedivider.
At turn on output overcurrents are prevented by
the soft start function (fig. 2). The error amplifieris
initially clamped by an external capacitor Css and
allowed to rise linearly under the charge of an internalconstant current source.
Output overload protection is provided by a current limit circuit (fig. 3). The load current is sensed
by an internal metal resistor connected to a comparator. When the load current exceeds a preset
threshold the output of the comparator sets a flip
flop which turns off the power DMOS. The next
clock pulse, from an internal 40kHz oscillator will
reset the flip flop and the power DMOS will again
conduct. This current protection method, ensures
Figure 4:
Resetand Power Fail Functions.
a constant current output when the system is
overloaded or short circuited and limits the
switchingfrequency,in this condition, to 40kHz.
The Reset and Power fail circuitry (fig 4) generates an output signal when the supply voltage exceeds a threshold programmed by an external
voltage divider. The reset signal, is generated
with a delay time programmed by an external capacitor on the delay pin. When the supply voltage
falls below the threshold or the output voltage
goes below 5V the reset output goes low immediately. The reset output is an open collector-drain.
Fig 4A showsthe case when the supplyvoltage is
higher than the threshold, but the output voltage
is not yet 5V.
Fig 4B shows the case when the output is 5.1V
but the supply voltage is not yet higher than the
fixedthreshold.
The thermal protection disables circuit operation
when the junction temperature reaches about
150°C and has an hysterysis to prevent unstable
conditions.
A
B
5/21
L4977A
ELECTRICALCHARACTERISTICS (Refer to the test circuit,Tj=25°C, Vi=35V, R4= 16KΩ,