
9
FN9030.7
March 4, 2005
the ESR (effective series resistance) and voltage rating 
requirements rather than actual capacitance requirements.
High frequency decoupling capacitors should be placed as 
close to the power pins of the load as physically possible. Be 
careful not to add inductance in the circuit board wiring that 
could cancel the usefulness of these low inductance 
components. Consult with the manufacturer of the load on 
specific decoupling requirements. For example, Intel 
recommends that the high frequency decoupling for the 
Pentium-Pro be composed of at least forty (40) 1.0
μ
F 
ceramic capacitors in the 1206 surface-mount package.
Use only specialized low-ESR capacitors intended for 
switching-regulator applications for the bulk capacitors. The 
bulk capacitor’s ESR will determine the output ripple voltage 
and the initial voltage drop after a high slew-rate transient. An 
aluminum electrolytic capacitor’s ESR value is related to the 
case size with lower ESR available in larger case sizes. 
However, the equivalent series inductance (ESL) of these 
capacitors increases with case size and can reduce the 
usefulness of the capacitor to high slew-rate transient loading. 
Unfortunately, ESL is not a specified parameter. Work with 
your capacitor supplier and measure the capacitor’s 
impedance with frequency to select a suitable component. In 
most cases, multiple electrolytic capacitors of small case size 
perform better than a single large case capacitor.
Output Inductor Selection
The output inductor is selected to meet the output voltage 
ripple requirements and minimize the converter’s response 
time to the load transient. The inductor value determines the 
converter’s ripple current and the ripple voltage is a function 
of the ripple current. The ripple voltage and current are 
approximated by the following equations:
Increasing the value of inductance reduces the ripple current 
and voltage. However, the large inductance values reduce 
the converter’s response time to a load transient.
One of the parameters limiting the converter’s response to a 
load transient is the time required to change the inductor 
current. Given a sufficiently fast control loop design, the 
ISL6522 will provide either 0% or 100% duty cycle in response 
to a load transient. The response time is the time required to 
slew the inductor current from an initial current value to the 
transient current level. During this interval the difference 
between the inductor current and the transient current level 
must be supplied by the output capacitor. Minimizing the 
response time can minimize the output capacitance required.
The response time to a transient is different for the 
application of load and the removal of load. The following 
equations give the approximate response time interval for 
application and removal of a transient load:
where: I
TRAN
 is the transient load current step, t
RISE
 is the 
response time to the application of load, and t
FALL
 is the 
response time to the removal of load. With a +5V input 
source, the worst case response time can be either at the 
application or removal of load and dependent upon the 
output voltage setting. Be sure to check both of these 
equations at the minimum and maximum output levels for 
the worst case response time.
Input Capacitor Selection
Use a mix of input bypass capacitors to control the voltage 
overshoot across the MOSFETs. Use small ceramic 
capacitors for high frequency decoupling and bulk capacitors 
to supply the current needed each time Q1 turns on. Place the 
small ceramic capacitors physically close to the MOSFETs 
and between the drain of Q1 and the source of Q2.
The important parameters for the bulk input capacitor are the 
voltage rating and the RMS current rating. For reliable 
operation, select the bulk capacitor with voltage and current 
ratings above the maximum input voltage and largest RMS 
current required by the circuit. The capacitor voltage rating 
should be at least 1.25 times greater than the maximum 
input voltage and a voltage rating of 1.5 times is a 
conservative guideline. The RMS current rating requirement 
for the input capacitor of a buck regulator is approximately 
1/2 the DC load current.
For a through-hole design, several electrolytic capacitors 
(Panasonic HFQ series or Nichicon PL series or Sanyo MV-GX 
or equivalent) may be needed. For surface mount designs, 
solid tantalum capacitors can be used, but caution must be 
exercised with regard to the capacitor surge current rating. 
These capacitors must be capable of handling the surge-
current at power-up. The TPS series available from AVX, and 
the 593D series from Sprague are both surge current tested.
MOSFET Selection/Considerations
The ISL6522 requires two N-Channel power MOSFETs. 
These should be selected based upon r
DS(ON)
, gate supply 
requirements, and thermal management requirements.
In high-current applications, the MOSFET power dissipation, 
package selection and heatsink are the dominant design 
factors. The power dissipation includes two loss 
components; conduction loss and switching loss. The 
conduction losses are the largest component of power 
dissipation for both the upper and the lower MOSFETs. 
These losses are distributed between the two MOSFETs 
according to duty factor. The switching losses seen when 
sourcing current will be different from the switching losses seen 
when sinking current. When sourcing current, the upper 
MOSFET realizes most of the switching losses. The lower 
I = 
V
 - V
-------------------------------
V
IN
---------------
V
OUT
=
 
I x ESR
t
FALL
L
------------------------------
I
OUT
×
=
t
RISE
L
IN
I
OUT
×
----------–
=
ISL6522