MIC4423/4424/4425
frequency, power supply voltage, and load all affect power
dissipation.
Given the power dissipation in the device, and the thermal
resistance of the package, junction operating temperature
for any ambient is easy to calculate. For example, the ther-
mal resistance of the 8-pin plastic DIP package, from the
datasheet, is 150°C/W. In a 25°C ambient, then, using a
maximum junction temperature of 150°C, this package will
dissipate 960mW.
Accurate power dissipation numbers can be obtained by sum-
ming the three sources of power dissipation in the device:
• Load power dissipation (P
L
)
• Quiescent power dissipation (P
Q
)
• Transition power dissipation (P
T
)
Calculation of load power dissipation differs depending on
whether the load is capacitive, resistive or inductive.
Resistive Load Power Dissipation
Dissipation caused by a resistive load can be calculated as:
P
L
= I
2
R
O
D
where:
I = the current drawn by the load
R
O
= the output resistance of the driver when the
output is high, at the power supply voltage used
(See characteristic curves)
D = fraction of time the load is conducting (duty cycle)
Capacitive Load Power Dissipation
Dissipation caused by a capacitive load is simply the energy
placed in, or removed from, the load capacitance by the
driver. The energy stored in a capacitor is described by the
equation:
E = 1/2 C V
2
As this energy is lost in the driver each time the load is charged
or discharged, for power dissipation calculations the 1/2 is
removed. This equation also shows that it is good practice
not to place more voltage in the capacitor than is necessary,
as dissipation increases as the square of the voltage applied
to the capacitor. For a driver with a capacitive load:
P
L
= f C (V
S
)
where:
f = Operating Frequency
C = Load Capacitance
V
S
= Driver Supply Voltage
Inductive Load Power Dissipation
For inductive loads the situation is more complicated. For
the part of the cycle in which the driver is actively forcing
current into the inductor, the situation is the same as it is in
the resistive case:
P
L1
= I
2
R
O
D
2
Micrel, Inc.
However, in this instance the R
O
required may be either the on
resistance of the driver when its output is in the high state, or
its on resistance when the driver is in the low state, depending
on how the inductor is connected, and this is still only half the
story. For the part of the cycle when the inductor is forcing
current through the driver, dissipation is best described as
P
L2
= I V
D
(1 – D)
where V
D
is the forward drop of the clamp diode in the driver
(generally around 0.7V). The two parts of the load dissipation
must be summed in to produce P
L
P
L
= P
L1
+ P
L2
Quiescent Power Dissipation
Quiescent power dissipation (P
Q
, as described in the input
section) depends on whether the input is high or low. A low
input will result in a maximum current drain (per driver) of
≤0.2mA; a logic high will result in a current drain of ≤2.0mA.
Quiescent power can therefore be found from:
P
Q
= V
S
[D I
H
+ (1 – D) I
L
]
where:
I
H
=
I
L
=
D=
V
S
=
quiescent current with input high
quiescent current with input low
fraction of time input is high (duty cycle)
power supply voltage
Transition Power Dissipation
Transition power is dissipated in the driver each time its
output changes state, because during the transition, for a
very brief interval, both the N- and P-channel MOSFETs in
the output totem-pole are ON simultaneously, and a current
is conducted through them from V
S
to ground. The transition
power dissipation is approximately:
P
T
= f V
S
(A•s)
where (A•s) is a time-current factor derived from Figure 2.
Total power (P
D
) then, as previously described is just
P
D
= P
L
+ P
Q
+P
T
Examples show the relative magnitude for each term.
EXAMPLE 1: A MIC4423 operating on a 12V supply driving
two capacitive loads of 3000pF each, operating at 250kHz,
with a duty cycle of 50%, in a maximum ambient of 60°C.
First calculate load power loss:
P
L
= f x C x (V
S
)
2
P
L
= 250,000 x (3 x 10
–9
+ 3 x 10
–9
) x 12
2
= 0.2160W
Then transition power loss:
P
T
= f x V
S
x (A•s)
= 250,000 • 12 • 2.2 x 10
–9
= 6.6mW
July 2005
9
MIC4423/4424/4425
MICREL [ MICREL SEMICONDUCTOR ]
