The THS6232 is designed with thermal protection that automatically puts the device in shutdown mode when the junction temperature reaches approximately 175°C. In this mode, device behavior is the same as if the bias pins are used to power down the device. The device resumes normal operation when the junction temperature reaches approximately 145°C. In general, avoid the thermal shutdown condition. If and when thermal protection triggers, thermal cycling occurs when the device repeatedly goes in and out of thermal shutdown until the junction temperature stabilizes to a value that prevents thermal shutdown.

A common technique to calculate the maximum power dissipation that a device can withstand is to use the junction-to-ambient thermal resistance (R_θJA), provided in Section 5.4. Use the following formula to estimate the amount of power a package can dissipate:

Figure 6-1 illustrates the package power dissipation based on this equation to reach junction temperatures of 125°C and 150°C at various ambient temperatures. The R_θJA value is determined using industry standard JEDEC specifications and allows ease of comparing various packages. Power greater than the power shown in Figure 6-1 can be dissipated in a package by good printed circuit board (PCB) thermal design, using heat sinks, active cooling techniques, or both. For an in-depth discussion on thermal design, see the Thermal Design By Insight, Not Hindsight application report.

Figure 6-1 Package Power Dissipation vs Ambient Temperature