AN2170 APPLICATION NOTE MOSFET Device Effects on Phase Node Ringing in VRM Power Converters INTRODUCTION

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1 AN2170 APPLICATION NOTE MOSFET Device Effects on Phase Node Ringing in VRM Power Converters INTRODUCTION The growth in production volume of industrial equipment (e.g., power DC-DC converters devoted to lowmedium-voltage applications) has dramatically increased in recent years. This widespread increase occurred along with a similar production increase of power MOSFET devices, due to their higher switching performance and ease of control with respect to bipolar transistors. High-tech products require more and higher performance devices because of advancing specifications and a growing demand for highly efficient systems and equipment, such as PC motherboards, power supplies, and hand tools. These stringent requirements demand innovation from power device designers, who must design to performance specifications, including suitable On-state resistance and gate-charge values, as well as high reliability characteristics which help to reduce wasted power. The last generation of low voltage Power MOSFETs has achieved very impressive performances in terms of Figure of Merit (FOM) R ON *Q g. These switches have very low static loss, increased switching speed, and very low driving energy requirements. However, these higher performing devices have also highlighted some undesired phenomena already present in their application. In particular, the fast voltage transition of the phase node can cause the inadvertent turn-on of the lowside switch, resulting in a converter malfunction and reducing efficiency. Another consequence of the increased switching speed is the ringing phenomenon, which occurs on the phase node of a Buck converter used as a Voltage Regulated Module (VRM). Although this ringing does not cause power loss (because of the fairly high Q), it could induce some sort of malfunction and/ or undesired stress of the power switches. For these reasons, it is useful to understand the main parameters, their influence, and possible ways to minimize undesired effects. June 2005 Rev 1 1/16

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CdV/dt-INDUCED TURN-ON Figure 1. Buck Converter Simplified Schematic Figure 2. Buck Converter Waveforms Figure 3. Low-Side Switch Current Paths, Control MOSFET Turned On Figure 4. Minimum dv/dt to Cause V GS > V TH VOLTAGE RINGING ON THE PHASE NODE Figure 5. Switching Waveforms with Voltage Ringing on the Phase Node Stray Inductance Effects on Phase Node Over Voltage Figure 6. Energizing of L, L1, L2, L3 During Synchronization Figure 7. Turn-on of the Upper Device and Over-Voltage Phenomenon APPROACHES TO VOLTAGE PHASE NODE RINGING REDUCTION PCB Layout Optimization Figure 8. VRM Converter Experimental Set-up Table 1. VRM Converter Device Characteristics Changing the Low-Side Switch Gate Resistor Using a Snubber Circuit Figure 9. Gate Resistance Effect on Strip MOSFET Switching: Without External Gate Resistance10 Figure 10.Gate Resistance Effect on Strip MOSFET Switching: With 3.3Ω Gate Resistance Figure 11.Snubber Circuit Effect on Strip MOSFET Switching: Without Snubber Figure 12.Snubber Circuit Effect on Strip MOSFET Switching: With Snubber Figure 13.Snubber Circuit, Cross-Conduction Effects on the VRM Efficiency CONCLUSION APPENDIX A.VOLTAGE OSCILLATION SPIKE POTENTIAL ANALYSIS Figure 14.Simplified Equivalent Circuit During Ringing Figure 15.Definition of Peak Voltage and Oscillation Frequency Peak Voltage and Oscillation Frequency Analysis REVISION HISTORY Table 2. Document Revision History /16

3 CdV/dt-INDUCED TURN-ON With buck converters dedicated to VRM applications (see Figure 1. and Figure 2.), it is essential that the user chooses the appropriate pair of switching MOSFETs. Devices having quite similar nominal characteristics can behave in a very different manner, leading to an appreciably altered overall system efficiency. This is especially the case with the switching behavior of a high-side switch which has a significant effect on the low-side switch. The rise speed of the phase node when the high-side device switches on could have two detrimental effects, depending on the device characteristics and how fast the voltage transition is. Figure 1. Buck Converter Simplified Schematic SW1 Phase Node L V IN Control IC SW2 C V O AI11108 Figure 2. Buck Converter Waveforms T S t ON t OFF V GS (SW1) δt S (1 δ)t S V GS (SW2) Dead Time I SW1 I L I SW2 I L I D_SW2 I L AI /16

4 The fast turn-on of the high-side switch (the control MOSFET) could induce a parasitic turn-on of the synchronous MOSFET, thus causing undesired conduction. This cross-conduction may originate from an improper dynamic polarization of the gate of the low-side device. Despite the fact that the gate is forced to Ground by the control driver (see Figure 3., page 5), the capacitive divider that is formed by the parasitic capacitances C GATE-DRAIN (C GD ) and C GATE-SOURCE (C GS ) forces the gate voltage of the low-side switch to increase, and the threshold voltage of the device can be overcome. The drain-source voltage rate-ofchange leads to a current injection into the MOSFET gate, thus increasing the voltage at the gate node. If the voltage rise time of the phase node (see Figure 3. and Figure 4., page 5) is much less than the time constant of the equivalent gate circuit of the low side switch (1), T m «R t ( C GS C GD ) then the maximum gate voltage is described by the following equation (2): C GD V GS, max C GD C GS V m Since a spurious turn-on causes power loss, which in turn leads to decreased efficiency, any way to avoid it is highly recommended. As shown in the maximum gate voltage equation (2), it is obvious that in order to reduce the possibility of spurious turn-on of the low-side switches, the expression, C GD /(C GS C GD ) deserves particular attention on the part of device designers. In fact, the amplitude of the gate voltage peak is dependent on the absolute value of the intrinsic capacitances of the device, as well as on the capacitive divider at the gate node (which also needs to be considered). In other words, in order to reduce the detrimental effects of fast variations of the drain node potential on the gate node, designers need to achieve a well-balanced capacitive divider and low impedance gate path at the gate node of the low-side switch. Additionally, the dv/dt in the drain node can also be responsible for the turn-on of the parasitic transistor in the inner MOSFET structure. If the voltage at the base node of the Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) gets over the built-in potential of the base-emitter junction, it can lead to possible device failure. Due to the dv/dt in the drain node, the drain-body capacitance (C DB ) produces a current injection in the base of the parasitic NPN bipolar transistor (see Figure 3.). Therefore, if the voltage drop on the parasitic resistor R B exceeds the base emitter threshold voltage, the parasitic NPN bipolar transistor will turn on. This condition can be expressed by using the following equation (3): dv DS C DB dt = V BE R B A lot of care has been taken at the Power MOSFET design level to minimize both R B and C DB. The design allows for safe switching even if dv/dt exceeds several volts per nanosecond. 4/16

5 Figure 3. Low-Side Switch Current Paths, Control MOSFET Turned On a Drain b C GD C DB Gate NPN dv dt Z GS C GS R B Source AI11110 Figure 4. Minimum dv/dt to Cause V GS > V TH Vm VDS VGS VTH t Tm AI /16

6 VOLTAGE RINGING ON THE PHASE NODE Another phenomenon can be caused by the concurrent effect of the high switching speed, the stray inductance of the board, and the parasitic capacitance of both the MOSFET and the eventual schottky diode. It is the presence of wide voltage oscillations on the so-called phase node (see Figure 5.). The parasitic inductance is energized during the synchronization cycle as it is depicted in Figure 6., page 7. However, as long as the high-side switch is turned-on (see Figure 7., page 7), the energy that has been previously stored in the inductor will lead to voltage oscillations with potentially dangerous voltage spikes. A theoretical analysis of this phenomenon using a simple, comparable circuit is given in AP- PENDIX A., page 13, which explains some of the relationships between voltage peak, oscillation frequency, the dumping factor of some circuitry elements, as well as device characteristics. Figure 5. Switching Waveforms with Voltage Ringing on the Phase Node Note: V GS =5V/div, V DS =5V/div, time=100ns/div 6/16

7 Stray Inductance Effects on Phase Node Over Voltage The C capacitance is equal to the output (C OSS ) drain-to-source capacitance of the low-side MOSFET. If a Schottky diode is used, its capacitance has to be taken in account as well. Note: L is considered the effective stray inductance of the high-side power MOSFET which is added to the trace inductance of the high-side MOSFET s source to the low-side drain connection, as well as to the trace inductance of the low-side ground connection. The same consideration applies to R, and oscillations only occur if: R < 2 L C --- Figure 6. Energizing of L, L1, L2, L3 During Synchronization V CC High-side Turned OFF L L2 Charge Low-side C C1 Load L1 L3 AI11115 Figure 7. Turn-on of the Upper Device and Over-Voltage Phenomenon V CC High-side L L2 Extra Voltage Low-side C C1 Load L1 L3 AI /16

8 APPROACHES TO VOLTAGE PHASE NODE RINGING REDUCTION Voltage phase node ringing is influenced by several parameters. Several circuit approaches may be used to reduce the severity of this transient: Layout Optimization of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Changing the Low-Side Switch Gate Resistance Use a Snubber Circuit PCB Layout Optimization This minimizes the effects of the parasitic component controlling this phenomenon, which includes both stray inductances and capacitances. Good layout technique involves the following: The output capacitor positioning such that they are located in symmetrically in relation to the output inductors of the converter (this will minimize the output voltage ripple). The inductance and capacitor connections have to be as short as possible, and formed with a wide area of copper. A multilayer PCB is required to provide an effective Ground plane. The MOSFET drive connection should be short, and the high current paths should be wide and short. Note: In order to attain good thermal exchange, some of the board areas may be used to provide a heat sink to the MOSFETs and diodes. If PCB optimization is not enough to limit the ringing to the desired value, then a design with an appropriate resistance value and an auxiliary snubber circuit (connected in parallel to the low-side switch device) has to be considered. The design can be applied to a test circuit to see how it will work with an actual VRM (see Figure 8.). This type of power converter has the following characteristics: Switching frequency = 300kHz Rated Input Voltage = 12V Rated Output Voltage = 1.8V Rated Current = 10A Figure 8. VRM Converter Experimental Set-up V IN High-side Control IC V OUT Low-side AI /16

9 A logic and control IC unit is used to synchronize the gate voltages of the low-side and high-side switches to provide a suitable dead-time between the two control signals. The output voltage of the buck converter is sensed through a resistive network that acts as the input signal on the IC unit logic for dynamic regulation of the output voltage during load variations. The switching behavior of the low-side device has been tested with different solutions. The main electrical characteristics of the two switching devices are reported in Table 1. Table 1. VRM Converter Device Characteristics Device Type BV DSS [V] V TH (min) [V] R DSon [mω] Q g [nc] R G [Ω] C OSS [pf] High-side Low-side Changing the Low-Side Switch Gate Resistor After the PCB design has been optimized, the next adjustment would the gate resistance of the low-side switch. The increased gate resistance value allows for a reduction of voltage ringing (see Figure 9., page 10 and Figure 10., page 10). In the experimental results reported for Figure 10., it appears that both the ringing and the voltage spikes are reduced as long as the gate resistance increases. However, with this adjustment, the increased presence of noise that exceeds the gate threshold of the Power MOSFET has also been detected. This causes the spurious turn-on of the converter which originates from the increased gate impedance, and therefore decreases the converter efficiency (see Figure 13., page 12). Using a Snubber Circuit A more efficient way to reduce the ringing voltage with very few consequences to the converter efficiency is to use a snubber circuit. Figure 11., page 11 and Figure 12., page 11 illustrate the commutation difference without and with a light RC Snubber (C = 1nF, R = 4.7Ω) connected in parallel to the low-side MOS- FET. The beneficial effect of the snubber circuit on the voltage ringing reduction clearly emerges. Moreover, this solution leads to a low number of voltage spikes and a small efficiency decrease with respect to the commutation without the snubber circuit. Figure 13., page 12 demonstrates the converter efficiency with and without the snubber circuit. 9/16

10 Figure 9. Gate Resistance Effect on Strip MOSFET Switching: Without External Gate Resistance Note: V GS =5V/div, V DS =5V/div, time=100ns/div. Figure 10. Gate Resistance Effect on Strip MOSFET Switching: With 3.3Ω Gate Resistance Note: V GS =5V/div, V DS =5V/div, time=100ns/div. 10/16

11 Figure 11. Snubber Circuit Effect on Strip MOSFET Switching: Without Snubber Note: V GS =2V/div, V DS =5V/div, time=20ns/div. Figure 12. Snubber Circuit Effect on Strip MOSFET Switching: With Snubber Note: V GS =2V/div, V DS =5V/div, time=20ns/div. 11/16

12 Figure 13. Snubber Circuit, Cross-Conduction Effects on the VRM Efficiency CONCLUSION The parasitic components of the board and high commutation speed of the strip MOSFET device indicate the probable presence of high voltage ringing in the phase node. The previously mentioned approaches, such as increasing the gate resistance or using a suitable snubber circuit have been successfully tested and proven to reduce phase node voltage ringing. The use of a small snubber circuit has been observed to significantly reduce the phase node voltage ringing without negatively affecting converter efficiency. 12/16

13 APPENDIX A. VOLTAGE OSCILLATION SPIKE POTENTIAL ANALYSIS Figure 14. Simplified Equivalent Circuit During Ringing R L V O C AI11117 Note: Oscillation occurs if R < R LIM. Figure 15. Definition of Peak Voltage and Oscillation Frequency V PEAK T = 1/freq 13/16

14 Peak Voltage and Oscillation Frequency Analysis 1 Freq = π LC π --- ω e sin( π Γ) V PEAK = V O ω LC ω = LC R L Γ = ω arctan --- α α = R L Note: Ringing occurs only if R<R lim. R< R lim = 2 L C /16

15 REVISION HISTORY Table 2. Document Revision History Date Version Description 21-Jun-05 1 First edition 15/16

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