SLVSB10F July 2012 – November 2020 TPS54020
PRODUCTION DATA
The soft-start capacitor determines the minimum amount of time it takes for the output voltage to reach its nominal programmed value during power up. This is useful if a load requires a controlled voltage slew rate. This is also used if the output capacitance is very large and would require large amounts of current to quickly charge the capacitor to the output voltage level. The extra current required to charge the output capacitors can cause the TPS54020 to reach the current limit. The soft-start current surge from the input can cause the input voltage rail to sag. Limiting the output voltage slew rate solves both of these problems. The soft-start capacitor value can be calculated using Equation 28. For the example circuit, the soft-start time is not critical because the output capacitor value is only 300 μF which does not require much current to charge to 1.8 V. The example circuit has the soft-start time set to an arbitrary value of 30 ms, which requires a 100-nF capacitor. In this case, ISS is 2.3 µA and VREF is 0.6 V.
where