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April 2004
7
M9999-041204
MIC5159
Applications Information
The MIC5159 is a high performance voltage regulator con-
troller. When used with an external P-Channel MOSFET and
a tiny ceramic output capacitor, it forms a wide variety of
simple, inexpensive ultra-low-dropout voltage regulators.
Current Sense Resistor Selection
A current sense resistor placed between the input and the
current sense pin (IS) allows for programmability of the
current limit. This resistor can simply be calculated by:
Micrel
R
50mV
I
OUT
SENSE
=
Where I
OUT
is the maximum output current.
For example, the current sense resistor for a 2.5V
IN
to
1.8V
OUT
, 5A, linear regulator calculates as follows:
50mV
5A
R
SENSE
= 10m
R
SENSE
=
P-Channel MOSFET Selection
The P-Channel MOSFET selected for use with the MIC5159
must satisfy the following requirements:
Input voltage
Gate threshold
Load current
Dropout voltage (input-to-output differential)
Thermal performance
To prevent damage to the P-Channel MOSFET, the maxi-
mum input voltage (V
IN
(max)) must be less than its drain-
source breakdown voltage (BV
DS
). In addition, the minimum
input voltage (V
IN
(min)) must be greater than or equal to the
gate threshold voltage (V
GS
) of the P-Channel MOSFET. For
a given output current and dropout requirement, the ON-
resistance (R
DS(ON)
) of the P-Channel MOSFET must also
be determined. The minimum R
DS(ON)
of the P-Channel
MOSFET is calculated as follows:
(
max)
R
V (
V
I
(
R
DS(ON)
OUT
OUT
SENSE
=
)
min)
Where I
OUT
(max) is the maximum output current and R
SENSE
is the current sense resistor.
For example, the MIC5159-1.8BM6 is used with an external
MOSFET to form a 5A LDO with an input of 2.5V. Either a 2.5V
or 1.8V gate threshold MOSFET can be selected.
The minimum R
DS(ON)
is calculated as:
(
R
DS(ON)
= 130m
R
2.5V 1.8V
5A
10m
DS(ON)
=
)
According to the above calculation, the minimum R
DS(ON)
is
130m
for a 2.5V to 1.8V LDO with 5A of output current. For
this design, the R
DS(ON)
for the FETs should maintain better
than 130m
over the required temperature, current, and
voltage conditions.
Placing two or more P-Channel FETs in parallel can reduce
the total R
DS(ON)
of the regulator. This also aids thermal
dissipation by sharing the current and heat between the
multiple FETs.
Thermal Considerations
Linear regulators are simple to use. The most complicated
design parameters to consider are thermal characteristics.
Since the MIC5159 offers no thermal protection, thermal
design requires the following application-specific param-
eters:
Maximum ambient temperature (T
A
)
Output current (I
OUT
)
Output voltage (V
OUT
)
Input voltage (V
IN
)
First, calculate the maximum power dissipation of the
regulator:
P
D
= (V
IN
–
V
OUT
)
×
I
OUT
Ground current can generally be ignored. The amount of
power dissipated by ground current and input voltage is
minimal. Minimum
θ
JA
for the MOSFET can be calculated
using the following formula:
(
θ
JA
A
D
T (
T
P
=
)
max)
Where T
J
(max) is equal to the maximum die temperature of
the P-Channel.
θ
JA
=
θ
JC
+
θ
CS
+
θ
SA
Example
For the same regulator, 2.5V
IN
to 1.8V
OUT
at 5A with an
ambient temperature of 60
°
C:
P
D
= (2.5V
–
1.8V)
×
5A
P
D
= 3.5W
Where V
IN
is the maximum V
IN
and I
OUT
is the maximum
I
OUT
.
The P-Channel MOSFET must be able to dissipate 3.5W.
The minimum
θ
JA
to maintain a maximum T
J
of 150
°
C (max.)
T
J
according to a typical MOSFET data sheet is as follows:
150 C
60 C
3.5W
θ
JA
= 25.71
°
C/W
The heatsink and MOSFET must have a combined thermal
resistance to meet the above criteria.
θ
JA
=
(
)