IR3500
Page 11 of 47
June 12, 2007
most systems. The inductor current will increase much more rapidly than decrease in response to load transients.
An additional advantage of the architecture is that differences in ground or input voltage at the phases have no
effect on operation since the PWM ramps are referenced to VDAC. Figure 6 depicts PWM operating waveforms
under various conditions.
The error amplifier is a high speed amplifier with 110 dB of open loop gain. It is not unity gain stable.
PHASE IC
CLOCK
PULSE
VDAC
EAIN
PWMRMP
GATEL
GATEH
DUTY CYCLE DECREASE
DUE TO VIN INCREASE
(FEED-FORWARD)
DUTY CYCLE INCREASE
DUE TO LOAD
INCREASE
STEADY-STATE
OPERATION
STEADY-STATE
OPERATION
DUTY CYCLE DECREASE DUE TO LOAD
DECREASE (BODY BRAKING) OR FAULT
(VCC UV, OCP, VID FAULT)
Figure 6 - PWM Operating Waveforms
Body Braking
TM
In a conventional synchronous buck converter, the minimum time required to reduce the current in the inductor in
response to a load step decrease is;
I
L
T
=
O
MIN
MAX
V
SLEW
I
)
(
*
The slew rate of the inductor current can be significantly increased by turning off the synchronous rectifier in
response to a load step decrease. The switch node voltage is then forced to decrease until conduction of the
synchronous rectifier’s body diode occurs. This increases the voltage across the inductor from Vout to Vout +
V
BODYDIODE
. The minimum time required to reduce the current in the inductor in response to a load transient
decrease is now;
I
L
T
+
Since the voltage drop in the body diode is often comparable to the output voltage, the inductor current slew rate
can be increased significantly. This patented method is referred to as “body braking” and is accomplished through
the “body braking comparator” located in the phase IC. If the error amplifier’s output voltage drops below the output
voltage of the share adjust amplifier in the phase IC, this comparator turns off the low side gate driver.
Lossless Average Inductor Current Sensing
Inductor current can be sensed by connecting a series resistor and a capacitor network in parallel with the inductor
and measuring the voltage across the capacitor, as shown in Figure 7. The equation of the sensing network is,
BODYDIODE
V
O
MIN
MAX
SLEW
V
I
=
)
(
*