IR3088A

PHASE IC

CLOCK

PULSE

EAIN

VDAC

PWMRMP

GATEH

GATEL

STEADY-STATE

OPERATION

DUTY CYCLE INCREASE

DUE TO LOAD

INCREASE

DUTY CYCLE DECREASE

DUE TO VIN INCREASE

(FEED-FORWARD)

DUTY CYCLE DECREASE DUE TO LOAD

DECREASE (BODY BRAKING) OR FAULT

(VCC UV, VCCVID UV, OCP, VID=11111X)

STEADY-STATE

OPERATION

91% VDAC

Figure 4. 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;

O

MIN

MAX

SLEW

V

I

I

L

T

)

(

*

−

=

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 +

is now;

BODYDIODE

O

MIN

MAX

SLEW

V

V

I

I

L

T

+

−

=

)

(

*

Since the voltage drop in the body diode is often higher than output voltage, the inductor current slew rate can be

increased by 2X or more. This patent pending technique is referred to as “body braking” and is accomplished

through the “0% Duty Cycle Comparator” located in the Phase IC. If the Error Amplifier’s output voltage drops below

91% of the VDAC voltage this comparator turns off the low side gate driver.

Lossless Average Inductor Current Sensing

Inductor current can be sensed by connecting a resistor and a capacitor in parallel with the inductor and measuring

the voltage across the capacitor, as shown in Figure 5. The equation of the sensing network is,

CS

CS

L

L

CS

CS

L

C

C

sR

sL

R

s

i

C

sR

s

v

s

v

+

+

=

+

=

1

)

(

1

1

)

(

)

(

Usually the resistor Rcs and capacitor Ccs are chosen so that the time constant of Rcs and Ccs equals the time

voltage across Ccs is proportional to the current through L, and the sense circuit can be treated as if only a sense

inductor DC current, but affects the AC component of the inductor current.

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