LTC3738 Datasheet, PDF (26/32 Pages) Linear Technology – 3-Phase Buck Controller for Intel VRM9/VRM10 with Active Voltage Positioning

LTC3738
APPLICATIO S I FOR ATIO
PC Board Layout Checklist
When laying out the printed circuit board, the following
checklist should be used to ensure proper operation of the
IC. These items are also illustrated graphically in the layout
diagram of Figure 9. Check the following in the PC layout:
1) Are the signal and power ground paths isolated? Keep the
SGND at one end of a printed circuit path thus preventing
MOSFET currents from traveling under the IC. The IC signal
ground pin should be used to hook up all control circuitry
on one side of the IC, routing the copper through SGND,
under the IC covering the “shadow” of the package, connect-
ing to the PGND pin and then continuing on to the (–) plates
of C_IN and C_OUT. The V_CC decoupling capacitor should be
placed immediately adjacent to the IC between the V_CC pin
and PGND. A 1µF ceramic capacitor of the X7R or X5R type
is small enough to fit very close to the IC to minimize the ill
effects of the large current pulses drawn to drive the bottom
MOSFETs. An additional 5µF to 10uF of ceramic, tantalum
or other very low ESR capacitance is recommended in or-
der to keep the internal IC supply quiet. The power ground
returns to the sources of the bottom N-channel MOSFETs,
anodes of the Schottky diodes and (–) plates of C_IN, which
should have as short lead lengths as possible.
2) Does the IC IN⁺ pin connect to the (+) plates of C_OUT?
A 30pF to 300pF feedforward capacitor between the
DIFFOUT and EAIN pins should be placed as close as
possible to the IC.
3) Are the SENSE^– and SENSE⁺ printed circuit traces for
each channel routed together with minimum PC trace
spacing? The filter capacitors between SENSE⁺ and SENSE^–
for each channel should be as close as possible to the pins
of the IC. Connect the SENSE^– and SENSE⁺ pins to the
pads of the sense resistor as illustrated in Figure 10.
4) Do the (+) plates of C_IN connect to the drains of the
topside MOSFETs as closely as possible? This capacitor
provides the pulsed current to the MOSFETs.
5) Keep the switching nodes, SWITCH, BOOST and TG
away from sensitive small-signal nodes. Ideally the
SWITCH, BOOST and TG printed circuit traces should be
routed away and separated from the IC and the “quiet” side
of the IC.
6) The filter capacitors between the I_TH and SGND pins
should be as close as possible to the pins of the IC.
Figure 9 illustrates all branch currents in a three-phase
switching regulator. It becomes very clear after studying
the current waveforms why it is critical to keep the high
switching current paths to a small physical size. High elec-
tric and magnetic fields will radiate from these “loops” just
as radio stations transmit signals. The output capacitor
ground should return to the negative terminal of the input
capacitor and not share a common ground path with any
switched current paths. The left half of the circuit gives rise
to the “noise” generated by a switching regulator. The
ground terminations of the synchronous MOSFETs and
Schottky diodes should return to the bottom plate(s) of the
input capacitor(s) with a short isolated PC trace since very
high switched currents are present. A separate isolated path
from the bottom plate(s) of the input and output capacitor(s)
should be used to tie in the IC power ground pin (PGND).
This technique keeps inherent signals generated by high
current pulses taking alternate current paths that have
finite impedances during the total period of the switching
regulator. External OPTI-LOOP compensation allows over-
compensation for PC layouts which are not optimized but
this is not the recommended design procedure.
Simplified Visual Explanation of How a 3-Phase
Controller Reduces Both Input and Output RMS
Ripple Current
The effect of multiphase power supply design significantly
reduces the amount of ripple current in both the input and
output capacitors. The RMS input ripple current is divided
by, and the effective ripple frequency is multiplied up by
the number of phases used (assuming that the input
voltage is greater than the number of phases used times
the output voltage). The output ripple amplitude is also
reduced by, and the effective ripple frequency is increased
by the number of phases used. Figure 11 graphically
illustrates the principle.
The worst-case input RMS ripple current for a single stage
design peaks at twice the value of the output voltage. The
worst-case input RMS ripple current for a two stage
design results in peaks at 1/4 and 3/4 of the input voltage,
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