Stmicroelectronics International N.v.

Lukas Buryanec

Sandor Petenyi

A voltage regulator circuit includes an input configured to receive an input voltage, an output configured to produce a regulated output voltage, a pass element coupled between the input and the output, a bypass element coupled in parallel with the pass element, a feedback divider coupled between the output and a ground node, an error amplifier coupled between a control node of the pass element and the feedback divider, and a dropout transition control circuit coupled to the feedback divider configured to activate a dropout mode of the voltage regulator circuit by controlling a dropout transition at the output from the regulated output voltage to a dropout voltage level to limit inrush current. The feedback divider is configured to produce a feedback signal indicative of the output voltage. The error amplifier is configured to minimize the difference between a reference and the feedback signal.

Voltage regulator bypass mode control circuit

A power circuit includes a power transistor coupled between input and output nodes and receiving a control signal. A current sensing current senses a power current provided by the power transistor to the output node and generates a sense voltage. A voltage sensing circuit senses a drain-to-source voltage of the power transistor and generates a VDS sense current. A safe operating area (SOA) shaping circuit has a gain set by an adjustable resistance that is dynamically adjusted based upon the VDS sense current, the SOA shaping circuit applying the gain to the sense voltage to produce an adjusted sense voltage. A timing circuit generates an intermediate voltage by comparing the adjusted sense voltage and a first reference. An output comparator asserts a flag in response to the intermediate voltage becoming at least equal to a second reference. The control signal is modified in response to assertion of the flag.

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Trutnov, Czechia

Lukas Buryanec