VOLTAGE REFERENCE
OSCILLATOR AND PWM RAMP
Switching Frequency +
100 kW
R
500 [kHz]
(29)
ERROR AMPLIFIER
PWM CONTROL
DEAD-TIME CONTROL AND MOSFET DRIVERS
www.ti.com ............................................................................................................................................................................................ SLVS547 – FEBRUARY 2005
The voltage reference system produces a precise Vref signal by scaling the output of a temperature stable
bandgap circuit. During manufacture, the bandgap and scaling circuits are trimmed to produce 0.891 V at the
output of the error amplifier, with the amplifier connected as a voltage follower. The trim procedure adds to the
high-precision regulation of the TPS54073, because it cancels offset errors in the scale and error amplifier
circuits.
The oscillator frequency is set to an internally fixed value of 350 kHz. The oscillator frequency can be externally
adjusted from 280 to 700 kHz by connecting a resistor between the RT pin to ground. The switching frequency is
approximated by the following equation, where R is the resistance from RT to AGND:
The high-performance, wide bandwidth, voltage error amplifier sets the TPS54073 apart from most dc/dc
converters. The user is given the flexibility to use a wide range of output L and C filter components to suit the
particular application needs. Type-2 or Type-3 compensation can be employed using external compensation
components.
Signals from the error amplifier output, oscillator, and current limit circuit are processed by the PWM control logic.
Referring to the internal block diagram, the control logic includes the PWM comparator, OR gate, PWM latch,
and portions of the adaptive dead-time and control-logic block. During steady-state operation below the current
limit threshold, the PWM comparator output and oscillator pulse train alternately reset and set the PWM latch.
Once the PWM latch is set, the low-side FET remains on for a minimum duration set by the oscillator pulse
width. During this period, the PWM ramp discharges rapidly to its valley voltage. When the ramp begins to
charge back up, the low-side FET turns off and high-side FET turns on. As the PWM ramp voltage exceeds the
error amplifier output voltage, the PWM comparator resets the latch, thus turning off the high-side FET and
turning on the low-side FET. The low-side FET remains on until the next oscillator pulse discharges the PWM
ramp. During transient conditions, the error amplifier output could be below the PWM ramp valley voltage or
above the PWM peak voltage. If the error amplifier is high, the PWM latch is never reset, and the high-side FET
remains on until the oscillator pulse signals the control logic to turn the high-side FET off and the low-side FET
on. The device operates at its maximum duty cycle until the output voltage rises to the regulation set-point,
setting VSENSE to approximately the same voltage as VREF. If the error amplifier output is low, the PWM latch
is continually reset and the high-side FET does not turn on. The low-side FET remains on until the VSENSE
voltage decreases to a range that allows the PWM comparator to change states. The TPS54073 is capable of
sinking current continuously until the output reaches the regulation set-point.
If the current limit comparator trips for longer than 100 ns, the PWM latch resets before the PWM ramp exceeds
the error amplifier output. The high-side FET turns off and low-side FET turns on to decrease the energy in the
output inductor and consequently the output current. This process is repeated each cycle in which the current
limit comparator is tripped.
Adaptive dead-time control prevents shoot-through current from flowing in both N-channel power MOSFETs
during the switching transitions by actively controlling the turn-on times of the MOSFET drivers. The high-side
driver does not turn on until the voltage at the gate of the low-side FET is below 2 V. While the low-side driver
does not turn on until the voltage at the gate of the high-side MOSFET is below 2 V.
The high-side and low-side drivers are designed with 300-mA source and sink capability to quickly drive the
power MOSFETs gates. The low-side driver is supplied from VIN, whereas the high-side driver is supplied from
the BOOT pin. A bootstrap circuit uses an external BOOT capacitor and an internal 2.5-
bootstrap switch
connected between the VIN and BOOT pins. The integrated bootstrap switch improves drive efficiency and
reduces external component count.
Copyright 2005, Texas Instruments Incorporated
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