SNVS817B June 2012 – June 2019 LMR12015 , LMR12020
PRODUCTION DATA.
Capacitor C2 in , commonly referred to as CBOOST, is used to store a voltage VBOOST. When the LMR12015/20 starts up, an internal LDO charges CBOOST, using an internal diode, to a voltage sufficient to turn the internal NMOS switch on. The gate drive voltage supplied to the internal NMOS switch is VBOOST – VSW.
During a normal switching cycle, when the internal NMOS control switch is off (tOFF) (refer to Figure 22), VBOOST equals VLDO minus the forward voltage of the internal diode (VD2). At the same time the inductor current (iL) forward biases the catch diode D1 forcing the SW pin to swing below ground by the forward voltage drop of the catch diode (VD1). Therefore, the voltage stored across CBOOST is
Thus,
When the NMOS switch turns on (tON), the switch pin rises to
reverse biasing D1, and forcing VBOOST to rise. The voltage at VBOOST is then
which is approximately
VBOOST has pulled itself up by its "bootstraps", or boosted to a higher voltage.