LTC3883 Datasheet, PDF (52/112 Pages) Linear Technology – Single Phase Step-Down DC/DC Controller with Digital Power System Management

LTC3883/LTC3883-1
Applications Information
Efficiency Considerations
The percent efficiency of a switching regulator is equal to
the output power divided by the input power times 100%.
It is often useful to analyze individual losses to determine
what is limiting the efficiency and which change would
produce the most improvement. Percent efficiency can
be expressed as:
%Efficiency = 100% – (L1 + L2 + L3 + ...)
where L1, L2, etc. are the individual losses as a percent-
age of input power.
Although all dissipative elements in the circuit produce
losses, four main sources usually account for most of the
losses in LTC3883 circuits: 1) IC V_IN current, 2) INTV_CC
regulator current, 3) I²R losses, 4) Topside MOSFET
transition losses.
1. The V_IN current is the DC supply current given in
the Electrical Characteristics table, which excludes
MOSFET driver and control currents. V_IN current typi-
cally results in a small (<0.1%) loss.
2. INTV_CC current is the sum of the MOSFET driver and
control currents. The MOSFET driver current results
from switching the gate capacitance of the power
MOSFETs. Each time a MOSFET gate is switched from
low to high to low again, a packet of charge dQ moves
from INTV_CC to ground. The resulting dQ/dt is a cur-
rent out of INTV_CC that is typically much larger than the
control circuit current. In continuous mode, I_GATECHG
= f(Q_T + Q_B), where Q_T and Q_B are the gate charges of
the topside and bottom side MOSFETs.
On the LTC3883-1, supplying EXTV_CC from an output-
derived source will scale the V_IN current required for
the driver and control circuits by a factor of:
 V_EXTVCC   ₁ 
 V_IN   Efficiency 
For example, in a 20V to 5V application, 10mA of INTV_CC
current results in approximately 2.5mA of V_IN current.
This reduces the mid-current loss from 10% or more
(if the driver was powered directly from V_IN) to only a
few percent.
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3. I²R losses are predicted from the DC resistances of the
fuse (if used), MOSFET, inductor, current sense resistor.
In continuous mode, the average output current flows
through L and R_SENSE, but is “chopped” between the
topside MOSFET and the synchronous MOSFET. If the
two MOSFETs have approximately the same R_DS(ON),
then the resistance of one MOSFET can simply be
summed with the resistances of L and R_SENSE to ob-
tain I²R losses. For example, if each R_DS(ON) = 10mΩ,
R_L = 10mΩ, R_SENSE = 5mΩ, then the total resistance
is 25mΩ. This results in losses ranging from 2% to
8% as the output current increases from 3A to 15A for
a 5V output, or a 3% to 12% loss for a 3.3V output.
Efficiency varies as the inverse square of V_OUT for the
same external components and output power level. The
combined effects of increasingly lower output voltages
and higher currents required by high performance digital
systems is not doubling but quadrupling the importance
of loss terms in the switching regulator system!
4. Transition losses apply only to the topside MOSFET(s),
and become significant only when operating at high
input voltages (typically 15V or greater). Transition
losses can be estimated from:
Transition Loss = (1.7) V_IN2 I_O(MAX) C_RSS f
Other “hidden” losses such as copper trace and internal
battery resistances can account for an additional 5% to
10% efficiency degradation in portable systems. It is very
important to include these “system” level losses during
the design phase. The internal battery and fuse resistance
losses can be minimized by making sure that C_IN has ad-
equate charge storage and very low ESR at the switching
frequency. A 25W supply will typically require a minimum
of 20µF to 40µF of capacitance having a maximum of
20mΩ to 50mΩ of ESR. The LTC3883 2-phase architecture
typically halves this input capacitance requirement over
competing solutions. Other losses including Schottky con-
duction losses during dead time and inductor core losses
generally account for less than 2% total additional loss.
Checking Transient Response
The regulator loop response can be checked by looking at
the load current transient response. Switching regulators
take several cycles to respond to a step in DC (resistive)
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