
14
ASTEC Semiconductor
and repeatable duty ratio clamping virtually
impossible due to other IC tolerances. The
AS3844/5 provides true 50% duty ratio clamping
by virtue of excluding from its flip-flop scheme,
the normal output blanking associated with the
discharge of C
T
. Standard 3844/5 devices
include the output blanking associated with the
discharge of C
T
, resulting in somewhat less than
a 50% duty ratio.
1.3.3 Synchronization
The advanced design of the AS3842 oscillator
simplifies synchronizing the frequency of two or
more devices to each other or to an external
clock. The R
T
/C
T
doubles as a synchronization
input which can easily be driven from any open
collector logic output. Figure 16 shows some
simple circuits for implementing synchronization.
1.4 Error amplifier (COMP)
The AS3842 error amplifier is a wide bandwidth,
internally compensated operational amplifier
which provides a high DC open loop gain (90
dB). The input to the amplifier is a PNP differen-
tial pair. The non-inverting (+) input is internally
connected to the 2.5 V reference, and the invert-
ing (D) input is available at pin 2 (V
FB
). The out-
put of the error amplifier consists of an active
pull-down and a 0.8 mAcurrent source pull-up as
shown in Figure 17. This type of output stage
allows easy implementation of soft start, latched
shutdown and reduced current sense clamp
functions. It also permits wire òOR-ingó of the
error amplifier outputs of several 3842s, or com-
plete bypass of the error amplifier when its output
is forced to remain in its òpull-upó condition.
AS384x
Current Mode Controller
+
–
COMPENSATION
NETWORK
2.50 V
TO
PWM
E/A
1
COMP
V
FB
2
0.8 mA
V
OUT
Figure 17. Error Amplifier Compensation
V
REG
AS3842
R
T
/C
T
GND
8
4
R
T
C
T
5
Open
Collector
Output
5 V
R
T
/C
T
Open
Collector
Output
3 K
2 K
2 K
R
T
/C
T
3 K
CMOS
SYNC
EXTERNAL CLOCK
Figure 16. Synchronization