M
High-Speed, Digitally Adjusted
Step-Down Controllers for Notebook CPUs
______________________________________________________________________________________
13
MOSFET, which causes a faster inductor-current dis-
charge ramp. The on-times guaranteed in the
Electrical
Characteristics
are influenced by switching delays in the
external high-side power MOSFET. The exact switching
frequency will depend on gate charge, internal gate
resistance, source inductance, and DH output drive
characteristics.
Two external factors that can influence switching-fre-
quency accuracy are resistive drops in the two conduc-
tion loops (including inductor and PC board resistance)
and the dead-time effect. These effects are the largest
contributors to the change of frequency with changing
load current. The dead-time effect is a notable disconti-
nuity in the switching frequency as the load current is
varied (see
Typical Operating Characteristics
). It occurs
whenever the inductor current reverses, most commonly
at light loads with
SKIP
high. With reversed inductor cur-
rent, the inductor’s EMF causes LX to go high earlier
than normal, extending the on-time by a period equal to
the low-to-high dead time. For loads above the critical
conduction point, the actual switching frequency is:
V
t
V
ON
IN
+
(
where V
DROP1
is the sum of the parasitic voltage drops
in the inductor discharge path, including synchronous
rectifier, inductor, and PC board resistances; V
DROP2
is the sum of the resistances in the charging path,
and t
ON
is the on-time calculated by the MAX1710/
MAX1711/MAX1712.
Integrator Amplifiers (CC)
There are three integrator amplifiers that provide a fine
adjustment to the output regulation point. One amplifier
monitors the difference between GNDS and GND, while
another monitors the difference between FBS and FB.
The third amplifier integrates the difference between
REF and the DAC output. These three transconductance
amplifiers’ outputs are directly summed inside the chip,
so the integration time constant can be set easily with a
capacitor. The g
m
of each amplifier is 160μmho (typ).
The integrator block has an ability to move and correct
the output voltage by about -2%, +4%. For each amplifi-
er, the differential input voltage range is about ±50mV
total, including DC offset and AC ripple. The voltage
gain of each integrator is about 80V/V.
The FBS amplifier corrects for DC voltage drops in PC
board traces and connectors in the output bus path
between the DC-DC converter and the load. The GNDS
amplifier performs a similar DC correction task for the
output ground bus. The third amplifier provides an aver-
aging function that forces V
OUT
to be regulated at the
average value of the output ripple waveform. If the inte-
grator amplifiers are disabled, V
OUT
is regulated at the
valleys of the output ripple waveform. This creates a
slight load-regulation characteristic in which the output
f
V
V
OUT
DROP
DROP
=
+
)
1
2
Table 3. MAX1712 FB Output Voltage
DAC Codes (VRM 9.0)
*See Table 4.
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
D0
Shutdown3*
1
1
1
1
1.100
1
1
1
1
1.125
0
1
1
1
1.150
0
1
1
1
1.175
1
0
1
1
1.200
1
0
1
1
1.225
0
0
1
1
1.275
1.250
1
0
1
0
0
1
1
1
1.300
1
1
0
1
1.325
0
1
0
1
1.350
0
1
0
1
1.375
1
0
0
1
1.400
1
0
0
1
1.425
0
0
0
1
1.450
0
0
0
1
1.475
1
1
1
0
1.500
1
1
1
0
1.525
0
1
1
0
1.550
0
1
1
0
1.575
1
0
1
0
1.600
1
0
1
0
1.625
0
0
1
0
1.675
1.650
1
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
1.700
1
1
0
0
1.725
0
1
0
0
1.750
0
1
0
0
1.775
1
0
0
0
1.800
1
0
0
0
1.825
0
0
0
0
1.850
0
0
0
0
OUTPUT
VOLTAGE (V)
D1
D2
D3
D4