LP2952 Datasheet, PDF (15/24 Pages) National Semiconductor (TI) – Adjustable Micropower Low-Dropout Voltage Regulators

Application Hints (Continued)
The military temperature range (−55˚C ≤ T_J ≤+150˚C) parts
are manufactured in ceramic DIP packages which contain a
KOVAR lead frame (unlike the industrial parts, which have a
copper lead frame). The KOVAR material is necessary to
attain the hermetic seal required in military applications.
The KOVAR lead frame does not conduct heat as well as
copper, which means that the PC board copper can not be
used to significantly reduce the overall junction-to-ambient
thermal resistance in applications using the LP2953AMJ
part.
The power dissipation calculations for military applications
are done exactly the same as was detailed in the previous
section, with one important exception: the value for θ_(J–A),
the junction-to-ambient thermal resistance, is fixed at
95˚C/W and can not be changed by adding copper foil
patterns to the PC board. This leads to an important fact:
The maximum allowable power dissipation in any application
using the LP2953AMJ is dependent only on the ambient
temperature:
100 pF capacitor between the Output and Feedback pins
and increasing the output capacitance to 6.8 µF (or greater)
will cure the problem.
MINIMUM LOAD
When setting the output voltage using an external resistive
divider, a minimum current of 1 µA is recommended through
the resistors to provide a minimum load.
It should be noted that a minimum load current is specified in
several of the electrical characteristic test conditions, so this
value must be used to obtain correlation on these tested
limits.
01112726
Figure 3 shows a graph of maximum allowable power dissi-
pation vs. ambient temperature for the LP2953AMJ, made
using the 95˚C/W value for θ_(J–A) and assuming a maximum
junction temperature of 150˚C (caution: the maximum ambi-
ent temperature which will be reached in a given application
must always be used to calculate maximum allowable power
dissipation).
EXTERNAL CAPACITORS
A 2.2 µF (or greater) capacitor is required between the
output pin and ground to assure stability when the output is
set to 5V. Without this capacitor, the part will oscillate. Most
type of tantalum or aluminum electrolytics will work here.
Film types will work, but are more expensive. Many alumi-
num electrolytics contain electrolytes which freeze at −30˚C,
which requires the use of solid tantalums below −25˚C. The
important parameters of the capacitor are an ESR of about
5Ω or less and a resonant frequency above 500 kHz (the
ESR may increase by a factor of 20 or 30 as the temperature
is reduced from 25˚C to −30˚C). The value of this capacitor
may be increased without limit.
At lower values of output current, less output capacitance is
required for stability. The capacitor can be reduced to
0.68 µF for currents below 10 mA or 0.22 µF for currents
below 1 mA.
Programming the output for voltages below 5V runs the error
amplifier at lower gains requiring more output capacitance
for stability. At 3.3V output, a minimum of 4.7 µF is required.
For the worst-case condition of 1.23V output and 250 mA of
load current, a 6.8 µF (or larger) capacitor should be used.
A 1 µF capacitor should be placed from the input pin to
ground if there is more than 10 inches of wire between the
input and the AC filter capacitor or if a battery input is used.
Stray capacitance to the Feedback terminal can cause insta-
bility. This problem is most likely to appear when using high
value external resistors to set the output voltage. Adding a
FIGURE 3. Power Derating Curve for LP2953AMJ
PROGRAMMING THE OUTPUT VOLTAGE
The regulator may be pin-strapped for 5V operation using its
internal resistive divider by tying the Output and Sense pins
together and also tying the Feedback and 5V Tap pins
together.
Alternatively, it may be programmed for any voltage between
the 1.23V reference and the 30V maximum rating using an
external pair of resistors (see Figure 4). The complete equa-
tion for the output voltage is:
where V_REF is the 1.23V reference and I_FB is the Feedback
pin bias current (−20 nA typical). The minimum recom-
mended load current of 1 µA sets an upper limit of 1.2 MΩ on
the value of R2 in cases where the regulator must work with
no load (see MINIMUM LOAD ). I_FB will produce a typical 2%
error in V_OUT which can be eliminated at room temperature
by trimming R1. For better accuracy, choosing R2 = 100 kΩ
will reduce this error to 0.17% while increasing the resistor
program current to 12 µA. Since the typical quiescent current
is 120 µA, this added current is negligible.
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