Input capacitors are necessary to limit the input ripple voltage to the buck power stage due to switching-frequency AC currents. TI recommends using X5R or X7R dielectric ceramic capacitors to provide low impedance and high RMS current rating over a wide temperature range. To minimize the parasitic inductance in the switching loop, position the input capacitors as close as possible to the drain of the high-side MOSFET and the source of the low-side MOSFET. The input capacitor RMS current is given by Equation 11.

Equation 11.

The highest input capacitor RMS current occurs at D = 0.5, at which point the RMS current rating of the capacitors must be greater than half the output current.

Ideally, the DC component of input current is provided by the input voltage source and the AC component by the input filter capacitors. Neglecting inductor ripple current, the input capacitors source current of amplitude (I_OUT − I_IN) during the D interval and sinks I_IN during the 1−D interval. Thus, the input capacitors conduct a square-wave current of peak-to-peak amplitude equal to the output current. It follows that the resultant capacitive component of AC ripple voltage is a triangular waveform. Together with the ESR-related ripple component, the peak-to-peak ripple voltage amplitude is given by Equation 12.

Equation 12.

The input capacitance required for a particular load current, based on an input voltage ripple specification of ΔV_IN, is given by Equation 13.

Equation 13.

Low-ESR ceramic capacitors can be placed in parallel with higher valued bulk capacitance to provide optimized input filtering for the regulator and damping to mitigate the effects of input parasitic inductance resonating with high-Q ceramics. One bulk capacitor of sufficiently high current rating and two or three 2.2-μF 100-V X7R ceramic decoupling capacitors are usually sufficient. Select the input bulk capacitor based on its ripple current rating and operating temperature.