SLVSD26A April 2016 – January 2017 TPS54202
PRODUCTION DATA.
The device is a 28-V, 2-A, synchronous step-down (buck) converter with two integrated n-channel MOSFETs. To improve performance during line and load transients the device implements a constant-frequency, peak current mode control which reduces output capacitance. The optimized internal compensation network minimizes the external component counts and simplifies the control loop design.
The TPS54202’s switching frequency is fixed to 500 kHz.
The TPS54202 starts switching at VIN equal to 4.5 V. The operating current is 45 μA typically when not switching and under no load. When the device is disabled, the supply current is 2 µA typically.
The integrated 148-mΩ high-side MOSFET and 78-mΩ allow for high efficiency power supply designs with continuous output currents up to 2 A.
The TPS54202 reduces the external component count by integrating the boot recharge diode. The bias voltage for the integrated high-side MOSFET is supplied by an external capacitor on the BOOT to PH pins. The boot capacitor voltage is monitored by an UVLO circuit and will turn the high-side MOSFET off when the voltage falls below a preset threshold of 2.1 V typically.
The device minimizes excessive output overvoltage transients by taking advantage of the overvoltage comparator. When the regulated output voltage is greater than 108% of the nominal voltage, the overvoltage comparator is activated, and the high-side MOSFET is turned off and masked from turning on until the output voltage is lower than 104%.
The TPS54202 device has internal 5-ms soft-start time to minimize inrush currents.
The device uses a fixed-frequency, peak current-mode control. The output voltage is compared through external resistors on the FB pin to an internal voltage reference by an error amplifier. An internal oscillator initiates the turn on of the high-side power switch. The error amplifier output is compared to the current of the high-side power switch. When the power-switch current reaches the error amplifier output voltage level, the high side power switch is turned off and the low-side power switch is turned on. The error amplifier output voltage increases and decreases as the output current increases and decreases. The device implements a current-limit by clamping the error amplifier voltage to a maximum level and also implements a minimum clamp for improved transient-response performance.
The TPS54202 is designed to operate in pulse skipping mode at light load currents to boost light load efficiency. When the peak inductor current is lower than 300 mA typically, the device enters pulse skipping mode. When the device is in pulse skipping mode, the error amplifier output voltage is clamped which prevents the high side integrated MOSFET from switching. The peak inductor current must rise above 300 mA and exit pulse skip mode. Since the integrated current comparator catches the peak inductor current only, the average load current entering pulse skipping mode varies with the applications and external output filters.
The device has a trans-conductance amplifier as the error amplifier. The error amplifier compares the FB voltage to the lower of the internal soft-start voltage or the internal 0596-V voltage reference. The transconductance of the error amplifier is 240 µA/V typically. The frequency compensation components are placed internal between the output of the error amplifier and ground.
The device adds a compensating ramp to the signal of the switch current. This slope compensation prevents sub-harmonic oscillations as the duty cycle increases. The available peak inductor current remains constant over the full duty-cycle range.
The EN pin provides electrical on and off control of the device. When the EN pin voltage exceeds the threshold voltage, the device begins operation. If the EN pin voltage is pulled below the threshold voltage, the regulator stops switching and enters the low-quiescent (IQ) state.
The EN pin has an internal pullup-current source which allows the user to float the EN pin to enable the device. If an application requires control of the EN pin, use open-drain or open-collector output logic to interface with the pin.
The device implements internal undervoltage-lockout (UVLO) circuitry on the VIN pin. The device is disabled when the VIN pin voltage falls below the internal VIN UVLO threshold. The internal VIN UVLO threshold has a hysteresis of 480 mV.
If an application requires a higher UVLO threshold on the VIN pin, then the EN pin can be configured as shown in Figure 13. When using the external UVLO function, setting the hysteresis at a value greater than 500 mV is recommended.
The EN pin has a small pull-up current, Ip, which sets the default state of the pin to enable when no external components are connected. The pull-up current is also used to control the voltage hysteresis for the UVLO function because it increases by Ih when the EN pin crosses the enable threshold. Use Equation 1 and Equation 2 to calculate the values of R4 and R5 for a specified UVLO threshold.
Where:
Ip = 0.7 µA
Ih = 1.55 µA
VENfalling = 1.19 V
VENrising = 1.22 V
The device has been designed to prevent the low-side MOSFET from discharging a pre-biased output. During monotonic pre-biased startup, both high-side and low-side MOSFETs are not allowed to be turned on until the internal soft-start voltage is higher than FB pin voltage.
The voltage reference system produces a precise ±2.5% voltage-reference over temperature by scaling the output of a temperature stable bandgap circuit. The typical voltage reference is designed at 0.596 V.
The output voltage is set with a resistor divider from the output node to the FB pin. It is recommended to use divider resistors with 1% tolerance or better. Start with a 100 kΩ for the upper resistor divider, use Equation 3 to calculate the output voltage. To improve efficiency at light loads consider using larger value resistors. If the values are too high the regulator is more susceptible to noise and voltage errors from the FB input current are noticeable.
The TPS54202 device uses the internal soft-start function. The internal soft start time is set to 5 ms typically.
The TPS54202 has an integrated boot regulator and requires a 0.1-µF ceramic capacitor between the BOOT and SW pins to provide the gate drive voltage for the high-side MOSFET. A ceramic capacitor with an X7R or X5R grade dielectric is recommended because of the stable characteristics over temperature and voltage. To improve drop out, the TPS54202 is designed to operate at 100% duty cycle as long as the BOOT to SW pin voltage is greater than 2.1 V typically.
The device is protected from overcurrent conditions by cycle-by-cycle current limiting on both the high-side MOSFET and the low-side MOSFET.
The device implements current mode control which uses the internal COMP voltage to control the turn off of the high-side MOSFET and the turn on of the low-side MOSFET on a cycle-by-cycle basis. During each cycle, the switch current and the current reference generated by the internal COMP voltage are compared. When the peak switch current intersects the current reference the high-side switch turns off.
While the low-side MOSFET is turned on, the conduction current is monitored by the internal circuitry. During normal operation the low-side MOSFET sources current to the load. At the end of every clock cycle, the low-side MOSFET sourcing current is compared to the internally set low-side sourcing current-limit. The inductor valley current is exceeded the low-side source current limit, the high-side MOSFET does not turn on and the low-side MOSFET stays on for the next cycle. The high-side MOSFET turns on again when the inductor valley current is below the low-side sourcing current-limit at the start of a cycle as shown in Figure 14.
Furthermore, if an output overload condition occurs for more than the hiccup wait time, which is programmed for 512 switching cycles, the device shuts down and restarts after the hiccup time of 16384 cycles. The hiccup mode helps to reduce the device power dissipation under severe overcurrent conditions.
In order to reduce EMI, TPS54202 introduces frequency spread spectrum. The jittering span is ±6% of the switching frequency with 1/512 swing frequency.
The TPS54202 incorporates an overvoltage transient protection (OVTP) circuit to minimize output voltage overshoot when recovering from output fault conditions or strong unload transients. The OVTP circuit includes an overvoltage comparator to compare the FB pin voltage and internal thresholds. When the FB pin voltage goes above 108% × Vref, the high-side MOSFET will be forced off. When the FB pin voltage falls below 104% × Vref, the high-side MOSFET will be enabled again.
The internal thermal-shutdown circuitry forces the device to stop switching if the junction temperature exceeds 155°C typically. When the junction temperature drops below 145°C typically, the internal thermal-hiccup timer begins to count. The device reinitiates the power-up sequence after the built-in thermal-shutdown hiccup time (32768 cycles) is over.
When the input voltage is above the UVLO threshold, the TPS54202 can operate in their normal switching modes. Normal continuous conduction mode (CCM) occurs when inductor peak current is above 0 A. In CCM, the TPS54202 operates at a fixed frequency.
The devices are designed to operate in high-efficiency pulse-skipping mode under light load conditions. Pulse skipping initiates when the switch current falls to 0 A. During pulse skipping, the low-side FET turns off when the switch current falls to 0 A. The switching node (the SW pin) waveform takes on the characteristics of discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) operation and the apparent switching frequency decreases. As the output current decreases, the perceived time between switching pulses increases.