AS1374

Datasheet

www.austriamicrosystems.com/LDOs/AS1374

Revision 1.8

14 - 18

9.6.5 Transient Response

The series regulator is a negative feedback system, and therefore any change at the output will take a finite time to be corrected by the error

loop. This “propagation time” is related to the bandwidth of the error loop. The initial response to an output transient comes from the output

capacitance, and during this time, ESR is the dominant mechanism causing voltage transients at the output. More generally:

Units are Volts, Amps, Ohms.

(EQ 15)

Thus an initial +50mA change of output current will produce a -12mV transient when the ESR=240m

. Do remember to keep the ESR within

stability recommendations when reducing ESR by adding multiple parallel output capacitors.

After the initial ESR transient, there follows a voltage droop during the time that the LDO feedback loop takes to respond to the output change.

This drift is approx. linear in time and sums with the ESR contribution to make a total transient variation at the output of:

Units are Volts, Seconds, Farads, Ohms.

(EQ 16)

Where:

T= Propagation Delay of the LDO

This shows why it is convenient to increase the output capacitor value for a better support for fast load changes. Of course the formula holds for

t < “propagation time”, so that a faster LDO needs a smaller cap at the load to achieve a similar transient response. For instance 50mA load

current step produces 50mV output drop if the LDO response is 1µsec and the load cap is 1µF.

There is also a steady state error caused by the finite output impedance of the regulator. This is derived from the load regulation specification

discussed above.

9.6.6 Turn On Time

This specification defines the time taken for the LDO to awake from shutdown. The time is measured from the release of the enable pin to the

Shutdown reduces the quiescent current to very low, mostly leakage values (<1µA).

9.6.7 Thermal Protection

To prevent operation under extreme fault conditions, such as a permanent short circuit at the output, thermal protection is built into the device.

Die temperature is measured, and when a 160°C threshold is reached, the device enters shutdown. When the die cools sufficiently, the device

will restart (assuming input voltage exists and the device is enabled). Hysteresis of 15°C prevents low frequency oscillation between start-up and

shutdown around the temperature threshold.

V

TRANSIENT

I

OUTPUT

R

ESR



=

V

TRANSIENT

I

OUTPUT

R

ESR

T

C

LOAD

-----------------

+







=