8.2.1.3 Input Capacitor

An input capacitor is necessary to ensure that V_IN does not drop excessively during switching transients. The primary specifications of the input capacitor are capacitance, voltage, RMS current rating, and equivalent series inductance (ESL). The recommended input capacitance is 10 µF, although 4.7 µF works well for input voltages below 6 V. The input voltage rating is specifically stated by the capacitor manufacturer. Make sure to check any recommended deratings and also verify if there is any significant change in capacitance at the operating input voltage and the operating temperature. The input capacitor maximum RMS input current rating (I_RMS-IN) must be greater than:

Equation 23.

where

• r is the ripple ratio defined earlier
• I_OUT is the output current, and
• D is the duty cycle

It can be shown from the above equation that maximum RMS capacitor current occurs when D = 0.5. Always calculate the RMS at the point where the duty cycle, D, is closest to 0.5. The ESL of an input capacitor is usually determined by the effective cross sectional area of the current path. A large leaded capacitor will have high ESL and a 0805 ceramic chip capacitor will have very low ESL. At the operating frequencies of the LMR12015/20, certain capacitors may have an ESL so large that the resulting impedance (2πfL) is higher than that required to provide stable operation. As a result, surface mount capacitors are strongly recommended. Sanyo POSCAP, Tantalum or Niobium, Panasonic SP or Cornell Dubilier Low ESR are all good choices for input capacitors and have acceptable ESL. Multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) have very low ESL. For MLCCs TI recommends using X7R or X5R dielectrics. Consult the capacitor manufacturer's datasheet to see how rated capacitance varies over operating conditions.