LTC3543 OPERATION An important detail to remember is that at low input supply Slope Compensation and Inductor Peak Current voltages, the RDS(ON) of the P-channel switch increases Slope compensation provides stability in constant- (see the Typical Performance Characteristics section). frequency architectures by preventing subharmon- Therefore, the user should calculate the power dissipation ic oscillations at high duty cycles. It is accomplished when the LTC3543 is used at 100% duty cycle with low internally by adding a compensating ramp to the inductor input voltage (see Thermal Considerations in the Applica- current signal at duty cycles in excess of 40%. Normally, tions Information section). this results in a reduction of maximum inductor peak current for duty cycles >40%; however, the LTC3543 Low Supply Operation uses a patent pending scheme that counteracts The LTC3543 will operate with input supply voltages as this compensating ramp, allowing the maximum induc- low as 2.5V, but the maximum allowable output current tor peak current to remain unaffected throughout all is reduced at this low voltage. Figure 2 shows the reduc- duty cycles. tion in the maximum output current as a function of input voltage for various output voltages. 1500 1400 1300 1200 VOUT = 1.2V 1100 1000 900 VOUT = 1.5V 800 700 MAXIMUM OUTPUT CURRENT (mA) 600 500 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 INPUT VOLTAGE (V) 3543 F02 Figure 2. Maximum Output Current vs Input Voltage (VIN) 3543fa 10