HV400MJ/883
The bootstrap capacitor should hold at least 10x the charge
of the MOSFET and should be connected between Pins 1
and 4/5 with minimum pin lengths and spacings. Likewise,
the HV400MJ/883 should be as close to the MOSFET as
possible. Any long PC traces (parasitic inductances)
between the MOSFET gate and Pins 8 or 3/6 or between the
source and Pins 4/5 should be avoided. Inductance between
the HV400MJ/883 and the MOSFET limit the MOSFET
switching time. If they are too large, the HV400MJ/883 may
operate erratically as discussed below.
Cross Conduction Faults
It is possible to have both Q1 and the SCR on at the same
time resulting in very large cross conduction currents. The
SCR has larger current capacity so the output goes low and
the storage capacitor is discharged. The conditions that
cause cross conduction and precautions are discussed
below.
Minimum Off Time
The SCR requires a recovery time before voltage can be
reapplied without it switching back on. Figure 13 shows how
this SCR recovery time, called “minimum off time” (tOR), is a
function of the load capacitance. If the input voltage goes
high before this recovery time is complete, the SCR will
switch back on.
Note that reverse current flowing through the SCR, for
example due to load inductance ringing, extends the
minimum off time. Since the minimum off time is really
dependent upon how much stored charge remains in the
SCR when the anode (Pin 3/6) is taken positive, it may vary
for different applications. Figure 13 indirectly shows that the
minimum off time increases with larger currents. It also
increases at elevated temperatures as shown in Figure 14.
Excessive ringing increases the minimum off time since the
stored charge doesn’t begin to dissipate until the current
drops below 10mA for the last time. Rising anode voltage
acts on the internal SCR capacitance to generate its own
triggering current. The excess stored charge increases this
capacitance. Faster rise times and/or higher voltages also
increase the amount of internal trigger current from the inter-
nal capacitance so applications with larger dV/dt require
longer minimum off times.
The minimum off time must be considered for all occur-
rences of SCR current. For example, in a half bridge switch
mode power supply, there are two MOSFETs connected to
the transformer primary. Assume that the high side MOSFET
switch is off. When the low side MOSFET switch is turned
on, the HV400MJ/883 driving the high side MOSFET will
have to sink gate current from CGD and will have to source
gate current when the low side MOSFET switches back off.
Both of these current pulses will try to flow through Pin 3/6
since the Pin 8 output is turned off. Sourcing current from
Pins 3/6 through the SCR is possible, the Pin 3/6 voltage
becoming negative with respect to Pins 4/5 (See Figure 8).
But a better practice would be to connect a Schottky diode
between Pins 4/5 (anode) and 3/6 (cathode) so reverse cur-
rent does not flow through the SCR.
False SCR Triggering
The SCR may be triggered inadvertently. The output may
overshoot the input due to inductive loading or over driving
the output NPN (allowing it to saturate). Whenever Pin 6 is
more positive than Pin 2 by 1V, the SCR is triggered on.
Also, if the output rises too rapidly, greater than 0.5V/ns, the
SCR may self trigger. Both issues are resolved by minimiz-
ing the load inductance and inserting sufficient resistance,
usually 0.1Ω to 10Ω, between Pin 8 and the load.
A very fast negative going input voltage can result in minimum
off times of about 2.5µs. If the output can not keep up with the
falling input, the stored charge of diode D4 is transferred into
the base of Q2. This excess charge in Q2 must have time to
dissipate. Otherwise, when Pin 3/6 goes positive, Q2 will turn
on and trigger the SCR. An external diode in series with Pin 2,
as shown in Figure 1, will prevent D4 from discharging into the
base of Q2 but that will also reduce the output voltage by the
forward voltage of that diode.
Internal Diodes
The internal diodes connected to Pin 7 are provided for
convenience but may not be suitable for large currents.
Since they are part of the integrated circuit, they are
physically small, operate at high current densities, and have
long recovery times. Figure 15 shows that their forward
characteristics degrade above 100mA. In addition, Figure 16
shows their reverse recovery charge as a function of forward
current. The product of this charge, the applied reverse
voltage and the frequency is the additional power dissipation
due to the diodes. For stored charge calculations, use the
peak forward current within 100ns of the application of
reverse bias. In addition to the extra power dissipation, the
capacitance of these diodes may extend the switching delay
times.
Power Dissipation Calculations
The power required to drive the MOSFET is the product of
its total gate charge times the gate supply voltage (maximum
voltage on HV400MJ/883 Pin 1, 2 or 7) times the frequency.
Assuming that the MOSFET gate resistance is negligible,
this power is dissipated within the HV400MJ/883. If resistors
are placed between the HV400MJ/883 and the MOSFET,
then some of the power is dissipated in the resistors, the per-
centage depending upon the ratio of resistors to
HV400MJ/883 output impedance.
There are two other sources of power dissipation to
consider. First there is the power in R3 which is the product
of the input Pin 2 current and voltage (with no output current)
times the duty cycle. Second is the product of the Pin 7
diode stored charge, which is dependent upon the forward
current, times the applied diode reverse voltage times the
frequency. This information is available from Figure 3 and
Figure 16 in this data sheet.
7