10.1 Layout Guidelines
This section lists the grounding and PCB circuit layout considerations.
10.1.1 Buck Converter
- Connect the drain of SWAH and SWBH MOSFETs together with the positive terminal of the input capacitor CIN. The trace length between these terminals should be short.
- Connect a local decoupling capacitor between the drain of SWxH and source of SWxL.
- The Kelvin-current sensing for the shunt resistor should have traces with minimum spacing, routed in parallel with each other. Place any filtering capacitors for noise near the IC pins.
- The resistor divider for sensing output voltage connects between the positive terminal of the respective output capacitor and COUTA or COUTB and the IC signal ground. Do not locate these components and their traces near any switching nodes or high-current traces.
10.1.2 Other Considerations
- Short PGNDx and AGND to the thermal pad. Use a star ground configuration if there is no ground plane present in the system. Use tie-ins for the EXTSUP capacitor, compensation-network ground, and voltage-sense feedback-ground networks to this star ground.
- Connect a compensation network between the compensation pins and IC signal ground. Connect the oscillator resistor (frequency setting) between the RT pin and IC signal ground. Do not locate these sensitive circuits near the dv/dt nodes; these include the gate-drive outputs and phase pins.
- Reduce the surface area of the high-current-carrying loops to a minimum by ensuring optimal component placement. Ensure the bypass capacitors are located as close as possible to their respective power and ground pins.