9.2.2.2 Selecting the Switching Frequency

The first step is to decide on a switching frequency for the regulator. Typically, you will want to choose the highest switching frequency possible since this will produce the smallest solution size. The high switching frequency allows for lower valued inductors and smaller output capacitors compared to a power supply that switches at a lower frequency. However, the highest switching frequency causes extra switching losses, which hurt the converter’s performance. The converter is capable of running from 300 kHz to 2.2 MHz. Unless a small solution size is an ultimate goal, a moderate switching frequency of 500 kHz is selected to achieve both a small solution size and a high efficiency operation. Using Figure 15, R1 is determined to be 383 kΩ