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The on-time pulse is programmed using the RTON resis-
tor to give a desired frequency. However, some frequen-
cy variation with line and load is expected. This variation
changes the output ripple voltage. Because constant on-
time converters regulate to the valley of the output rip-
ple, of the output ripple appears as a DC regulation er-
ror. For example, If the output ripple is 50mV with VIN = 6
volts, then the measured DC output will be 25mV above
the comparator trip point. If the ripple increases to 80mV
with VIN = 25 volts, then the measured DC output will be
40mV above the comparator trip. The best way to mini-
mize this effect is to minimize the output ripple.
To compensate for valley regulation it is often desirable
to use passive droop. Take the feedback directly from
the output side of the inductor, placing a small amount
of trace resistance between the inductor and output ca-
pacitor. This trace resistance should be optimized so that
at full load the output droops to near the lower regula-
tion limit. Passive droop minimizes the required output
capacitance because the voltage excursions due to load
steps are reduced.
The use of 1% feedback resistors contributes typically
1% error. If tighter DC accuracy is required use 0.1%
resistors. Note that for the internal preset voltages, the
FB accuracy of 1.25% for 0 to 85°C already includes the
tolerance of the internal resistors.
The output inductor value may change with current. This
will change the output ripple and thus the DC output
voltage. The output ESR also affects the ripple and thus
the DC output voltage.
Switching Frequency Variation
The switching frequency will vary somewhat due to line
and load conditions. The line variations are a result of a
fixed offset in the on-time one-shot, as well as unavoid-
able delays in the external MOSFET switching. As input
voltage increases, these factors make the actual DH on-
time slightly longer than the idealized on-time. The net
effect is that frequency tends to fall slightly with increas-
ing input voltage.
The frequency variation with load is due to losses in the
power train from IR drop and switching losses. For a con-
ventional PWM constant-frequency topology, as load
increases the duty cycle also increases slightly to com-
pensate for IR and switching losses in the MOSFETs and
inductor. A constant on-time topology must also over-
come the same losses by increasing the effective duty
cycle (more time is spent drawing energy from VIN as
losses increase). Since the on-time is constant for a given
VOUT/VIN combination, the way to increase duty cycle is
to gradually shorten the off-time. The net effect is that
switching frequency increases slightly with increasing
load.
Layout Guidelines
As with any switch-mode converter, and especially a
dual-channel converter, a good pcb layout is essential for
optimum performance. The following guidelines should
be used for PCB layout.
Placement
Note that the pins on the IC are arranged in four groups,
i.e. Side1 Power, Side2 Power, Side1 Analog, and Side2
Analog, as shown in Figure 21.
LX1
BST1
VDD1
DL1
EN1
SS1
LX2
BST2
VDD2
DL2
EN2
SS2
D
I
P
P
I
D
V
F
R
T
F
V
GND
(PAD)
1
7
6
12
13
18
19
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Side 1
Power/Gate
Drive
Side 2
Power/Gate
Drive
Side 1
Analog
Side 2
Analog
Figure 21
Applications Information (continued)