LP3876-ADJ

SNVS245C – SEPTEMBER 2003 – REVISED APRIL 2013

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It should be noted that stability problems have been seen in applications where "vias" to an internal ground plane

were used at the ground points of the IC and the input and output capacitors. This was caused by varying ground

potentials at these nodes resulting from current flowing through the ground plane. Using a single point ground

technique for the regulator and it's capacitors fixed the problem.

leads to these pins so there is no voltage drop in series with the input and output capacitors.

RFI/EMI SUSCEPTIBILITY

RFI (radio frequency interference) and EMI (electromagnetic interference) can degrade any integrated circuit's

performance because of the small dimensions of the geometries inside the device. In applications where circuit

sources are present which generate signals with significant high frequency energy content (> 1 MHz), care must

be taken to ensure that this does not affect the IC regulator.

If RFI/EMI noise is present on the input side of the regulator (such as applications where the input source comes

from the output of a switching regulator), good ceramic bypass capacitors must be used at the input pin of the IC.

If a load is connected to the IC output which switches at high speed (such as a clock), the high-frequency current

pulses required by the load must be supplied by the capacitors on the IC output. Since the bandwidth of the

regulator loop is less than 100 kHz, the control circuitry cannot respond to load changes above that frequency.

The means the effective output impedance of the IC at frequencies above 100 kHz is determined only by the

output capacitor(s).

In applications where the load is switching at high speed, the output of the IC may need RF isolation from the

load. It is recommended that some inductance be placed between the output capacitor and the load, and good

RF bypass capacitors be placed directly across the load.

PCB layout is also critical in high noise environments, since RFI/EMI is easily radiated directly into PC traces.

Noisy circuitry should be isolated from "clean" circuits where possible, and grounded through a separate path. At

MHz frequencies, ground planes begin to look inductive and RFI/EMI can cause ground bounce across the

ground plane.

In multi-layer PCB applications, care should be taken in layout so that noisy power and ground planes do not

radiate directly into adjacent layers which carry analog power and ground.

OUTPUT NOISE

Noise is specified in two ways-

Spot Noise or Output noise density is the RMS sum of all noise sources, measured at the regulator output, at

a specific frequency (measured with a 1Hz bandwidth). This type of noise is usually plotted on a curve as a

function of frequency.

Total output Noise or Broad-band noise is the RMS sum of spot noise over a specified bandwidth, usually

several decades of frequencies.

Attention should be paid to the units of measurement. Spot noise is measured in units µV/

√Hz or nV/√Hz and

total output noise is measured in µV(rms).

The primary source of noise in low-dropout regulators is the internal reference. In CMOS regulators, noise has a

low frequency component and a high frequency component, which depend strongly on the silicon area and

quiescent current. Noise can be reduced in two ways: by increasing the transistor area or by increasing the

current drawn by the internal reference. Increasing the area will decrease the chance of fitting the die into a

smaller package. Increasing the current drawn by the internal reference increases the total supply current

(ground pin current). Using an optimized trade-off of ground pin current and die size, LP387X achieves low noise

performance and low quiescent current operation.

The total output noise specification for LP387X is presented in the Electrical Characteristics table. The Output

noise density at different frequencies is represented by a curve under typical performance characteristics.

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