Application Hints
POWER DISSIPATION AND DEVICE OPERATION
The permissible power dissipation for any package is a mea-
sure of the capability of the device to pass heat from the power
source, the junctions of the IC, to the ultimate heat sink, the
ambient environment. Thus the power dissipation is depen-
dent on the ambient temperature and the thermal resistance
across the various interfaces between the die and ambient
air. As stated in (Note 5) of the electrical characteristics, the
allowable power dissipation for the device in a given package
can be calculated using the equation:
The actual power dissipation across the device can be rep-
resented by the following equation:
PD = (VIN – VOUT) x IOUT
This establishes the relationship between the power dissipa-
tion allowed due to thermal consideration, the voltage drop
across the device, and the continuous current capability of the
device. These two equations should be used to determine the
optimum operating conditions for the device in the application.
EXTERNAL CAPACITORS
Like any low-dropout regulator, the LP5904 requires external
capacitors for regulator stability. The LP5904 is specifically
designed for portable applications requiring minimum board
space and smallest components. These capacitors must be
correctly selected for good performance.
INPUT CAPACITOR
An input capacitor is required for stability. The input capacitor
should be at least equal to, or greater than, the output capac-
itor for good load transient performance. At least a 1.0 μF
capacitor has to be connected between the LP5904 input pin
and ground for stable operation over full load current range.
Basically, it is ok to have more output capacitance than input,
as long as the input is at least 1.0 μF.
This capacitor must be located a distance of not more than
1cm from the input pin and returned to a clean analog ground.
Any good quality ceramic, tantalum, or film capacitor may be
used at the input.
Important: To ensure stable operation it is essential that
good PCB practices are employed to minimize ground
impedance and keep input inductance low. If these conditions
cannot be met, or if long leads are to be used to connect the
battery or other power source to the LP5904, then it is rec-
ommended to increase the input capacitor to at least 10 µF.
Also, tantalum capacitors can suffer catastrophic failures due
to surge current when connected to a low-impedance source
of power (like a battery or a very large capacitor). If a tantalum
capacitor is used at the input, it must be guaranteed by the
manufacturer to have a surge current rating sufficient for the
application. There are no requirements for the ESR (Equiva-
lent Series Resistance) on the input capacitor, but tolerance
and temperature coefficient must be considered when select-
ing the capacitor to ensure the capacitance will remain
1.0 μF ±30% over the entire operating temperature range.
OUTPUT CAPACITOR
The LP5904 is designed specifically to work with a very small
ceramic output capacitor, typically 1.0 µF. A ceramic capaci-
tor (dielectric types X5R or X7R) in the 0.5 μF to 10 μF range,
and with ESR between 5mΩ to 500 mΩ, is suitable in the
LP5904 application circuit. For this device the output capaci-
tor should be connected between the VOUT pin and a good
ground connection.
It may also be possible to use tantalum or film capacitors at
the device output, VOUT, but these are not as attractive for
reasons of size and cost (see CAPACITOR CHARACTERIS-
TICS below).
The output capacitor must meet the requirement for the min-
imum value of capacitance and have an ESR value that is
within the range 5mΩ to 500 mΩ for stability.
REMOTE CAPACITOR OPERATION
The LP5904 requires at least a 1µF capacitor at output pin,
but there is no strict requirements about the location of the
capacitor in regards the LDO output pin. In practical designs
the output capacitor may be located some 5-10 cm away from
the LDO. This means that there is no need to have a special
capacitor close to the output pin if there is already respective
capacitor(s) in the system (like a capacitor at the input of sup-
plied part). The Remote Capacitor feature helps user to min-
imize the number of capacitors in the system.
As a good design practice, it is good to keep the wiring para-
sitic inductance at a minimum, which means to use as wide
as possible traces from the LDO output to the capacitor(s),
keeping the LDO trace layer as close as possible to ground
layer and avoiding vias on the path. If there is a need to use
vias, implement as many as possible vias between the con-
nection layers. The recommendation is to keep parasitic
wiring inductance less than 35 nH. For the applications with
fast load transients, it is recommended to use an input ca-
pacitor equal to or larger to the sum of the capacitance at the
output node for the best load transient performance.
CAPACITOR CHARACTERISTICS
The LP5904 is designed to work with ceramic capacitors on
the input and output to take advantage of the benefits they
offer. For capacitance values in the range of 0.5 μF to 10 μF,
ceramic capacitors are the smallest, least expensive and
have the lowest ESR values, thus making them best for elim-
inating high frequency noise. The ESR of a typical 1.0 μF
ceramic capacitor is in the range of 20 mΩ to 40 mΩ, which
easily meets the ESR requirement for stability for the LP5904.
The temperature performance of ceramic capacitors varies by
type and manufacturer. Most large value ceramic capacitors
(≥2.2 µF) are manufactured with Z5U or Y5V temperature
characteristics, which results in the capacitance dropping by
more than 50% as the temperature goes from 25°C to 85°C.
A better choice for temperature coefficient in a ceramic ca-
pacitor is X7R. This type of capacitor is the most stable and
holds the capacitance within ±15% over the temperature
range. Tantalum capacitors are less desirable than ceramic
for use as output capacitors because they are more expen-
sive when comparing equivalent capacitance and voltage
ratings in the 0.5 μF to 10 μF range.
Another important consideration is that tantalum capacitors
have higher ESR values than equivalent size ceramics. This
means that while it may be possible to find a tantalum capac-
itor with an ESR value within the stable range, it would have
to be larger in capacitance (which means bigger and more
costly) than a ceramic capacitor with the same ESR value. It
should also be noted that the ESR of a typical tantalum will
increase about 2:1 as the temperature goes from 25°C down
to −40°C, so some guard band must be allowed.
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LP5904