The TPS7H4003-SEP requires a high quality ceramic, type X5R or X7R, input decoupling capacitor of at least 4.7 µF of effective capacitance on the PVIN input voltage pins, and 4.7 µF on the VIN input voltage pin. In some applications additional bulk capacitance may also be required for the PVIN input. The effective capacitance includes any DC bias effects. The voltage rating of the input capacitor must be greater than the maximum input voltage. The capacitor must also have a ripple current rating greater than the maximum input current ripple of the TPS7H4003-SEP. The input ripple current can be calculated using Equation 30.

Equation 30.

The value of a ceramic capacitor varies significantly over temperature and the amount of DC bias applied to the capacitor. The capacitance variations due to temperature can be minimized by selecting a dielectric material that is stable over temperature. X5R and X7R ceramic dielectrics are usually selected for power regulator capacitors because they have a high capacitance to volume ratio and are fairly stable over temperature. The input capacitor must also be selected with the DC bias taken into account. The capacitance value of a capacitor decreases as the DC bias across a capacitor increases. For this example, six 16-V, 22-μF ceramic capacitors and two 10-V, 330-µF polymer tantalum capacitors in parallel have been selected as the VIN and PVIN inputs are tied together so the TPS7H4003-SEP may operate from a single supply. The input capacitance value determines the input ripple voltage of the regulator. The input voltage ripple can be calculated using Equation 31. Using the design example values, I_OMAX = 18 A, C_IN = 792 μF, f_SW = 500 kHz, yields an input voltage ripple of 11.4 mV and a RMS input ripple current of 7.2 A.

Equation 31.