
9
The 33% maximum duty cycle of the converter guarantees 
discontinuous inductor current and unconditional stability 
over all operating conditions.
The boost converter with the limited duty cycle and 
discontinuous inductor current can deliver to the load a 
limited amount of power before the output voltage starts to 
drop. When the duty cycle has reached Dmax, the control 
loop is operating open circuit and the output voltage varies 
with the output load resistance, Ro, as given by:
Where Vin is the 5V Main voltage, Dmax = 0.33, L is the 
value of the boost inductor, L3, and F = 100kHz. This 
provides automatic output current limiting. When the 
maximum duty cycle has been reached and for a given 
inductor, a further reduction in Ro by one-half will pull the 
output voltage down to 0.707 of nominal and cause an 
undervoltage condition.
The 12V converter starts to operate at the same time as the 
5V Main converter. The rising voltage on the 5V Main output 
and the 33% duty cycle limit provides a similar soft-start, as 
the 5V Main, for the 12V output. 
3V ALWAYS, 5V ALWAYS Linear 
Regulators
The 3.3V ALWAYS and 5V ALWAYS outputs are derived 
from the battery voltage and are the first voltages available 
in the notebook when power on is initiated. The 5V ALWAYS 
output is generated directly from the battery voltage by a 
linear regulator. It is used to power the system micro- 
controller and to internally power the chip and the gate 
drivers. The 3.3V ALWAYS output is generated from the 5V 
ALWAYS output and may be used to power the keyboard 
controller or other peripherals. The combined current 
capability of these outputs is 50mA. When the 5V Main 
output is greater than it’s undervoltage level, it is switched to 
the 5V ALWAYS output via an internal 1.3
 MOSFET 
switch. Simultaneously, the 5V ALWAYS linear regulator is 
disabled to prevent excessive power dissipation.
The rise time of the 5V ALWAYS is determined by the value 
of the output capacitance on the 5V and 3.3V ALWAYS 
outputs. The internal regulator is current limited to about 
180mA, so the start up time is approximately:
Where C
OUT
 is the sum of the capacitances on the 5V and 
3.3V ALWAYS outputs.
Power Good Status
The ISL6235 monitors all the output voltages except for the 
3.3V ALWAYS. A single power-good signal, PGOOD, is 
issued when soft-start is completed and all monitored 
outputs are within 10% of their respective set points. After 
the soft-start sequence is completed, undervoltage 
protection latches the chip off when any of the monitored 
outputs drop below 75% of its set point.
A ‘soft-crowbar’ function is implemented for an overvoltage 
on the 3.3V Main or 5V Main outputs. If the output voltage 
goes above 115% of their nominal output level, the upper 
MOSFET is turned off and the lower MOSFET is turned on. 
This ‘soft-crowbar’ condition will be maintained until the 
output voltage returns to the regulation window and then 
normal operation will continue.
This ‘soft-crowbar’ and monitoring of the output, prevents the 
output voltage from ringing negative as the inductor current 
flows in the ‘reverse’ direction through the lower MOSFET 
and output capacitors.
Over-Temperature Protection
The IC incorporates an over-temperature protection circuit 
that shuts all the outputs down when the die temperature 
exceeds 150
o
C. Normal operation is automatically restored 
when the die temperature cools to 125
o
C.
Component Selection Guidelines
Output Capacitor Selection
The output capacitors for each output have unique 
requirements. In general, the output capacitors should be 
selected to meet the dynamic regulation requirements 
including ripple voltage and load transients.
3.3V Main and 5V Main PWM Output Capacitors
Selection of the output capacitors is also dependent on the 
output inductor so some inductor analysis is required to 
select the output capacitors.
-
EA3
REF
+
Q
Q
R
S
PWM
LATCH 3
VSEN3
+
CLK
DIVIDER
3:1
RAMP
GENERATOR
CLK/3
CLK/3
GATE3
RAMP
t
t
t
t
CLK
CLK/3
RAMP
VEA3
GATE3
PWM
COMPARATOR
FIGURE 3.
 12V BOOST OPERATION
Vo
Vin
Dmax
×
)
------------------
=
(EQ. 3)
t
C
OUT
-------------------
×
=
(EQ. 4)
ISL6235