SBVS233B January 2016 – June 2021 TPS7A84
PRODUCTION DATA
The TPS7A84 features a programmable, monotonic, voltage-controlled soft-start that is set with an external capacitor (CNR/SS).The use of an external CNR/SS is highly recommended, especially to minimize in-rush current into the output capacitors. This soft-start eliminates power-up initialization problems when powering field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or other processors. The controlled voltage ramp of the output also reduces peak in-rush current during start-up, minimizing start-up transients to the input power bus.
To achieve a monotonic start-up, the TPS7A84 error amplifier tracks the voltage ramp of the external soft-start capacitor until the voltage approaches the internal reference. The soft-start ramp time depends on the soft-start charging current (INR/SS), the soft-start capacitance (CNR/SS), and the internal reference (VNR/SS). Soft-start ramp time can be calculated with Equation 1:
Note that INR/SS is provided in the Section 6.5 table and has a typical value of 6.2 µA.
The noise-reduction capacitor, in conjunction with the noise-reduction resistor, forms a low-pass filter (LPF) that filters out the noise from the reference before being gained up with the error amplifier, thereby reducing the device noise floor. The LPF is a single-pole filter and the cutoff frequency can be calculated with Equation 2. The typical value of RNR is 250 kΩ. Increasing the CNR/SS capacitor has a greater affect because the output voltage increases when the noise from the reference is gained up even more at higher output voltages. For low-noise applications, a 10-nF to 1-µF CNR/SS is recommended.