11
LTC3700
3700f
APPLICATIONS INFORMATION
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Molypermalloy (from Magnetics, Inc.) is a very good, low
loss core material for toroids, but it is more expensive than
ferrite. A reasonable compromise from the same manu-
facturer is Kool Mµ. Toroids are very space efficient,
especially when you can use several layers of wire. Be-
cause they generally lack a bobbin, mounting is more
difficult. However, new designs for surface mount that do
not increase the height significantly are available.
Power MOSFET Selection
An external P-channel power MOSFET must be selected
for use with the LTC3700. The main selection criteria for
the power MOSFET are the threshold voltage V
GS(TH)
and
the “on” resistance R
DS(ON)
, reverse transfer capacitance
C
RSS
and total gate charge.
Since the LTC3700 is designed for operation down to low
input voltages, a sublogic level threshold MOSFET (R
DS(ON)
guaranteed at V
GS
= 2.5V) is required for applications that
work close to this voltage. When these MOSFETs are used,
make sure that the input supply to the buck is less than the
absolute maximum V
GS
rating, typically 8V.
The required minimum R
DS(ON)
of the MOSFET is gov-
erned by its allowable power dissipation. For applications
that may operate the LTC3700 in dropout, i.e., 100% duty
cycle, at its worst case the required R
DS(ON)
is given by:
R
P
Ip
DS ON
P
OUT MAX
DC
()
()
%=
=
()
+
()
100
2
1 δ
where P
P
is the allowable power dissipation and δp is the
temperature dependency of R
DS(ON)
. (1 + δp) is generally
given for a MOSFET in the form of a normalized R
DS(ON)
vs
temperature curve, but δp = 0.005/°C can be used as an
approximation for low voltage MOSFETs.
Kool Mµ is a registered trademark of Magnetics, Inc.
In Burst Mode operation on the LTC3700, the ripple
current is normally set such that the inductor current is
continuous during the burst periods. Therefore, the peak-
to-peak ripple current must not exceed:
I
R
RIPPLE
SENSE
≤
003.
This implies a minimum inductance of:
L
VV
f
R
VV
VV
MIN
IN OUT
SENSE
OUT D
IN D
=
−
+
+
003.
(Use V
IN(MAX)
= V
IN
)
A smaller value than L
MIN
could be used in the circuit;
however, the inductor current will not be continuous
during burst periods.
Inductor Core Selection
Once the value for L is known, the type of inductor must be
selected. High efficiency converters generally cannot af-
ford the core loss found in low cost powdered iron cores,
forcing the use of more expensive ferrite, molypermalloy
or Kool Mµ
®
cores. Actual core loss is independent of core
size for a fixed inductor value, but it is very dependent on
inductance selected. As inductance increases, core losses
go down. Unfortunately, increased inductance requires
more turns of wire and therefore copper losses will in-
crease. Ferrite designs have very low core losses and are
preferred at high switching frequencies, so design goals
can concentrate on copper loss and preventing saturation.
Ferrite core material saturates “hard,” which means that
inductance collapses abruptly when the peak design cur-
rent is exceeded. This results in an abrupt increase in
inductor ripple current and consequent output voltage
ripple. Do not allow the core to saturate!
