SNOAA35E December 2023 – June 2024 LM2901 , LM2901B , LM2901B-Q1 , LM2903 , LM2903-Q1 , LM2903B , LM2903B-Q1 , LM339 , LM339-N , LM393 , LM393-N , LM393B , LM397 , TL331 , TL331-Q1 , TL331B
An open collector output requires a pull-up resistor for the output to go High. An often overlooked design item is the pull-up resistor value. If the pull-up resistor value is too low, the output low pull-up current is excessive, which results in the output low voltage (VOL) increasing, causing excessive output power dissipation and increased overall system supply currents.
If the pull-up resistor value is too high, this can result in a larger risetime. The risetime can vary with capacitive load as the risetime is dependent on the time constant of the pull-up resistor and the load capacitance. The result is an exponential risetime instead of a square edge and can effect the overall propagation delay. Falltime is not dependent on the pull-up resistor as the output transistor immediately shorts the output, quickly discharging the load capacitance through a low impedance.
The equation to determine risetime (10-90%), with 5k and 15pF example:
If risetime is not critical, a higher resistor value can be used to further save system power.
TI recommends a pull-up resistor sink current in the range of 100uA to 1mA for the best compromise of output swing and risetime. For example, with a 5V pull-up voltage and 1mA current, the resistor value is calculated to be VPULL-UP / 1mA = 5kΩ. A 4.7k or 5.1k resistor can suffice, as the exact value is not critical. The proper pull-up resistor can be derived from the output saturation curve shown in Figure 6-1. With multiple channel devices, be sure to include the power dissipation of each channel in the total package power dissipation calculation.