Current-Regulating Hot-Swap Controller with
DualSpeed/BiLevel Fault Protection
12   ______________________________________________________________________________________
Case A: Slow Turn-On (without overcurrent)
There are two ways to turn on the MOSFET without
reaching the fast comparator current limit:
1) If the board capacitance (C
BOARD
) is low, the
inrush current is low.
2) If the capacitance at GATE is high, the MOSFET
turns on slowly.
In both cases, the turn-on (t
ON
) is determined only by
the charge required to enhance the MOSFETeffec  -
tively, the small gate-charging current limits the output
voltage dv/dt. This time can be extended by connect-
ing an external capacitor between GATE and GND, as
shown in Figure 7. The turn-on time is dominated by the
external gate capacitance if its value is considerably
higher than MOSFET gate capacitance. Table 4 shows
the timing required to enhance the recommended
MOSFET with or without an external capacitor at GATE;
Figures 2 and 3 show the related waveforms and timing
diagrams (see Start-Up Time with  C
BOARD
= 0 and
Start-Up Time with External C
GATE
in the Typical
Operating Characteristics). Remember that a high gate
capacitance also increases the turn-off time.
When using the MAX4370 without an external gate
capacitor, R
S
is not necessary. R
S
prevents MOSFET
source oscillations that can occur when C
GATE
is high
while C
BOARD
is low.
Case B: Fast Turn-On (with current limit)
In applications where the board capacitor (C
BOARD
) at
V
OUT
is high, the inrush current causes a voltage drop
across R
SENSE
that exceeds the fast comparator
threshold (V
FC,TH
= 200mV). In this case, the current
charging C
BOARD
can be considered constant and the
turn-on time is determined by:
t
ON
= C
BOARD
?SPAN class="pst MAX4370ESA-T_2342621_3"> V
IN
/ I
FAST,SET
where the maximum load current I
FAST,SET
= V
FC,TH
/
R
SENSE
. Figure 2 shows the waveforms and timing dia-
grams for a turn-on transient with current regulation (see
Start-Up Time with C
BOARD
= 470礔 in the Typical
Operating Characteristics). When operating under this
condition, an external gate capacitor is not required.
Adding an external capacitor at GATE reduces the regu-
lated current ripple but increases the turn-off time by
increasing the gate delay (t
d
) (Figure 3).
M1
C
SPD
*OPTIONAL (SEE TEXT)
C
TIM
CTIM
GATE
VSEN
GND
CSPD
ON
R
SENSE
V
OUT
C
GATE
C
BOARD
V
IN
V
IN
R
S*
MAX4370
R
PULL-UP
STAT
Figure 7. Operation with External Gate Capacitor
Table 4. MOSFET Turn-On Time (start-up without current limit)
(C
BOARD
= 0, turn-on with no load current, turn-off with 2A fault current)
International Rectifier
IRF7401
Fairchild FDS6670A
0
22
0
175祍
1.9ms
220祍
130祍
1.8ms
160祍
160祍
3.5ms
MOSFET TURN-ON (t
ON
)
190祍
75祍
540祍
70祍
130祍
1.1ms
130祍
160祍
2ms
MOSFET TURN-OFF (t
OFF
)
145祍
22
2.3ms
2ms
3.2ms
540祍
1.1ms
1.95ms
0
22
101祍
2ms
74祍
1.8ms
Motorola
MMSF5N03HD
73祍
3.2ms
33祍
470祍
67祍
1ms
85祍
1.95ms
C
GATE
(nF)
V
IN
= 3V
V
IN
= 5V
V
IN
= 12V
V
IN
= 3V
V
IN
= 5V
V
IN
= 12V
DEVICE
Electrical characteristics as specified by the manufacturers data sheet:
FDS6670A: C
ISS
= 3200pF, Q
T(MAX)
= 50nC, R
DS(ON)
= 8.2m&
IRF7401: C
ISS
= 1600pF, Q
T(MAX)
= 48nC, R
DS(ON)
= 22m&
MMSF5N03HD: C
ISS
= 1200pF, Q
T(MAX)
= 21nC, R
DS(ON)
= 40m&