AN10322

Current sensing power MOSFETS

Rev. 02 24 June 2009 Application note
Document information
Info Content
Keywords Current sensing, PowerMOS, senseFET, sense ratio, sense resistor,
virtual earth
Abstract Current sensing power MOSFETs provide an effective means of
protecting automotive electronic circuits from overcurrent conditions. This
application note describes the principles of operation using virtual earth
current sensing and sense resistor current sensing techniques.
AN10322_2 NXP B.V. 2009. All rights reserved.
Application note Rev. 02 24 June 2009 2 of 10
Contact information
For more information, please visit: http://www.nxp.com
For sales ofce addresses, please send an email to: salesaddresses@nxp.com
NXP Semiconductors AN10322
Current sensing power MOSFETs
Revision history
Rev Date Description
02 20090624 Updated to meet NXP Semiconductors house style and rewritten.
01 20040909 Initial version
AN10322_2 NXP B.V. 2009. All rights reserved.
Application note Rev. 02 24 June 2009 3 of 10
NXP Semiconductors AN10322
Current sensing power MOSFETs
1. Introduction
Current sensing power MOSFETs provide an effective means of protecting automotive
electronic circuits from overcurrent conditions. They offer a low loss method of measuring
the load current, eliminating the need for a current shunt resistor.
NXP Semiconductors has developed a range of current senseFET products to address
the requirements of the automotive market as shown in Table 1. All devices are based on
low R
DSon
TrenchMOS PowerMOS technology.
2. Principle of operation
Current senseFET technology depends on the close matching of transistor cells within the
PowerMOS. A TrenchMOS device comprises many thousands of transistor cells in
parallel. Elements within the device are identical and the DRAIN current is shared equally
between them. The more cells that are in parallel for a given MOSFET chip area, the lower
its on-state resistance will be. This principle has been the key driving force for automotive
PowerMOS for many years and is well understood by both suppliers and customers.
It is possible to isolate the SOURCE connections of several cells from those of the
majority and bring them out onto a separate SENSE pin. The PowerMOS can now be
thought of as two transistors in parallel with a common GATE and DRAIN but separate
SOURCE pins; see Figure 1. When the devices are turned on, the load current will be
shared as a ratio of their on-state resistances.
Table 1. NXP senseFET range
Device Maximum R
DSon
(m) Sense ratio
BUK7105-40AIE 5 500:1
BUK7905-40AI 5
BUK7C06-40AITE 6
BUK7108-40AIE 8
BUK7107-55AIE 7
BUK7C08-55AITE 8
BUK7109-75AIE 9
BUK7C10-75AITE 10
AN10322_2 NXP B.V. 2009. All rights reserved.
Application note Rev. 02 24 June 2009 4 of 10
NXP Semiconductors AN10322
Current sensing power MOSFETs
The sense cells pass only a small fraction of the total load current in proportion to the ratio
of their areas. This ratio is typically 500:1.
The ratio of current through the mainFET to the current through the senseFET is known
as the sense ratio (n). This ratio is dened for the condition where the SOURCE and
SENSE terminals are held at the same potential. An additional KELVIN connection to the
SOURCE metallization enables accurate determination of the SOURCE potential.
3. Virtual Earth current sensing
The virtual Earth current sensing technique gives the best performance in terms of
accuracy and noise immunity over the full temperature range of the device. This method is
illustrated in Figure 2.
Fig 1. SenseFET equivalent circuit
001aak182
SOURCE
GATE
SENSE
mainFET
DRAIN
KELVIN
I
SOURCE
I
SENSE
senseFET
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Application note Rev. 02 24 June 2009 5 of 10
NXP Semiconductors AN10322
Current sensing power MOSFETs
Current feedback to the virtual Earth of the operational amplier ensures that the SENSE
and KELVIN terminals are held at the same potential so that the geometric ratio is
measured as shown by Equation 1.
(1)
A typical senseFET response is shown in Figure 3. The sense signal closely mirrors the
DRAIN current throughout the whole pulse duration.
Tolerances of 5 % can be achieved with this circuit over temperature. The main
advantage of this method is that the sense signal is independent of temperature and
linearly proportional to load current. Note that when the MOSFET is used in the low side
of the circuit, a negative supply is required for its operational amplier.
I
sf
= senseFET current.
Fig 2. Virtual Earth current sensing
(1) SenseFET response: 20 s; 10 V/div.
(2) DRAIN current: 20 s; 10 A/div.
Fig 3. SenseFET virtual earth response
001aak183
V
BAT
load
I
SENSE
KELVIN/SOURCE
power ground
I
sf
OUT
OUT
V
OUT
R
SENSE
V+
V
V+
V
MICRO-
CONTROLLER
GATE
DRIVE
ADC
V
SENSE
I
D
( )R
SENSE
n
-------------------------------- =
001aak184
25 A
(1)
(2)
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Application note Rev. 02 24 June 2009 6 of 10
NXP Semiconductors AN10322
Current sensing power MOSFETs
4. Sense resistor current sensing
The use of an external sense resistor in series with the SENSE pin offers a simpler
technique for monitoring the current through the device; see Figure 4 and Figure 5.
In Figure 4, an external operational amplier is used to amplify the sense signal. In the
equivalent circuit shown in Figure 5, the resistance of the FET is separated into active and
passive components, with a common DRAIN resistance. The active channels are
modelled by the mainFET on-state resistance (R
mf(on)
) carrying the majority of the current
and the senseFET on-state resistance (R
sf(on)
). The passive contribution from the wire
resistance is denoted by R
wire
. The circuit operates as a potential divider with design
equations Equation 2 and Equation 3.
(2)
(3)
The inclusion of R
SENSE
increases the resistance of the mirror leg, and the sense ratio
now becomes as shown in Equation 4.
(4)
The maximum voltage seen on the I
SENSE
terminal occurs when R
SENSE
is innite i.e. an
open-circuit condition. This is known as the compliance voltage V
comp
as shown in
Equation 5.
(5)
I
sf
= senseFET current.
Fig 4. Sense resistor circuit Fig 5. Equivalent sense resistor circuit in the ON
state
001aak185
V
BAT
load
I
SENSE
KELVIN/SOURCE
power ground
I
sf
OUT
V
SENSE
R2
R1
gate drive
R
SENSE
V
OUT
001aak186
R
D
R
SENSE
V
SENSE
I
SENSE
R
sf(on)
R
mf(on)
R
wire
I
D
I
sf
DRAIN
KELVIN
SOURCE
V
out
R
2
R
1
------


R
SENSE
I
sf
=
V
SENSE
I
D
R
mf on ( )
R
SENSE
R
SENSE
R +
----------------------------
sf on ( )
=
n' n 1
R
SENSE
R
sf on ( )
------------------ +


=
V
comp
V
DSon
R
mf on ( )
R
mf on ( )
R
D
+
-------------------------------


=
AN10322_2 NXP B.V. 2009. All rights reserved.
Application note Rev. 02 24 June 2009 7 of 10
NXP Semiconductors AN10322
Current sensing power MOSFETs
Therefore the mirror terminal only samples a proportion of the full DRAIN-SOURCE
voltage. Fortunately, for low voltage PowerMOS the contribution from the DRAIN
resistance (R
D
) is a small proportion of the total R
DSon
and so the compliance ratio is high.
This will deteriorate in higher voltage devices.
As an example, the BUK7905-40AIE R
mf(on)
= 3 m, R
sf(on)
= 1.1 and has a nominal
sense ratio of 500:1. If R
SENSE
= 1 , when 10 A load current ows through the load this
will generate V
SENSE
14 mV. In the low side, a single rail amplier can be used to amplify
this signal to a more useful level.
The KELVIN connection to SOURCE is essential for accurate current sensing. Otherwise,
voltage drops over R
wire
that are caused by load current will add to the sense voltage and
introduce a source of error. In the past this was less of an issue as a R
wire
of 2 m was
only a small fraction of a 200 m mainFET. But modern PowerMOS products can have
on-state resistances as low as 1 m, comparable with the parasitic resistances.
Referencing to the KELVIN pin eliminates the wire contribution.
The main disadvantage of the sense resistor technique is that the inclusion of R
SENSE
introduces a temperature dependence.
Imagine the case where R
SENSE
is 0 . The on-state resistance of both the mainFET and
senseFET track together over temperature and the ratio of the two stays constant. In this
case the current sense ratio also stays constant over temperature.
Conversely, if R
SENSE
approaches innity, V
SENSE
in Equation 3 now becomes
, and will follow R
mf(on)
over temperature (T). The mainFET
on-state resistance almost doubles between 25 C and 175 C thus eroding the tolerance
of the measurement. For values between the two, a balance must be struck between
signal magnitude and accuracy. We normally recommend maintaining R
SENSE
<< R
sf(on)
and amplifying the V
SENSE
signal accordingly. A typical senseFET response is shown in
Figure 6.
The response shown in Figure 6 appears to show that the senseFET reacts
instantaneously to changes in the DRAIN current, and that the sense signal contains false
peaks at turn-on and turn-off. These are due to a difference in the current ratio between
(1) SenseFET response: 100 s; 500 mV/div.
(2) DRAIN current: 100 s; 5 A/div.
Fig 6. SenseFET response in resistor circuit
V
SENSE
I
D
R
mf on ( )
T ( ) =
001aak187
(1)
(2)
t0 t1 t2
AN10322_2 NXP B.V. 2009. All rights reserved.
Application note Rev. 02 24 June 2009 8 of 10
NXP Semiconductors AN10322
Current sensing power MOSFETs
the linear and the fully enhanced operating regions and are largely circuit related. This
becomes more clear if we evaluate the response in terms of an effective sense ratio (n'),
which is dependent on the ratio of from Equation 4. Assume that
R
SENSE
= 1 .
At t0 the GATE-SOURCE voltage is zero and no current ows. Once a GATE voltage is
applied, a channel forms and current begins to ow through the device, although the
on-state resistance is still very high. At this point R
sf(on)
>> R
SENSE
and the geometric
sense ratio (n) is measured. This yields the maximum sense signal at t1. As the GATE is
overdriven, the on-state resistance of the senseFET falls and the factor
becomes more signicant as shown in Figure 7. This continues until the nal level of V
GS
and sense ratio are reached at t2. During turn-off, the process is reversed. Note that if
R
SENSE
= 0 , no false peaks are observed and the sense signal is similar to the virtual
earth response shown in Figure 3.
Normally, designers choose to blank out the false peaks, and to sense the current once
the device is fully enhanced.
5. Conclusion
SenseFET devices are an effective means of protecting automotive applications. They are
a low loss and cost-effective alternative to traditional current shunts whilst retaining
realistic tolerances.
6. References
[1] N. Zommer and J. Biran Power current mirror devices and their
applications Proc. Power convers. Int. Conf. June, pp275-283 (1986).
I
SENSE
= 25 mA.
Fig 7. On-state resistance of senseFET as a function of V
GS
R
SENSE
R
sf on ( )

R
SENSE
R
sf on ( )

001aak188
V
GS
(V)
4 10 8 6
2
1
3
4
R
sf(on)
()
0
AN10322_2 NXP B.V. 2009. All rights reserved.
Application note Rev. 02 24 June 2009 9 of 10
NXP Semiconductors AN10322
Current sensing power MOSFETs
7. Legal information
7.1 Denitions
Draft The document is a draft version only. The content is still under
internal review and subject to formal approval, which may result in
modications or additions. NXP Semiconductors does not give any
representations or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of
information included herein and shall have no liability for the consequences of
use of such information.
7.2 Disclaimers
General Information in this document is believed to be accurate and
reliable. However, NXP Semiconductors does not give any representations or
warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of such
information and shall have no liability for the consequences of use of such
information.
Right to make changes NXP Semiconductors reserves the right to make
changes to information published in this document, including without
limitation specications and product descriptions, at any time and without
notice. This document supersedes and replaces all information supplied prior
to the publication hereof.
Suitability for use NXP Semiconductors products are not designed,
authorized or warranted to be suitable for use in medical, military, aircraft,
space or life support equipment, nor in applications where failure or
malfunction of an NXP Semiconductors product can reasonably be expected
to result in personal injury, death or severe property or environmental
damage. NXP Semiconductors accepts no liability for inclusion and/or use of
NXP Semiconductors products in such equipment or applications and
therefore such inclusion and/or use is at the customers own risk.
Applications Applications that are described herein for any of these
products are for illustrative purposes only. NXP Semiconductors makes no
representation or warranty that such applications will be suitable for the
specied use without further testing or modication.
Export control This document as well as the item(s) described herein
may be subject to export control regulations. Export might require a prior
authorization from national authorities.
7.3 Trademarks
Notice: All referenced brands, product names, service names and trademarks
are the property of their respective owners.
TrenchMOS is a trademark of NXP B.V.
NXP Semiconductors AN10322
Current sensing power MOSFETs
NXP B.V. 2009. All rights reserved.
For more information, please visit: http://www.nxp.com
For sales office addresses, please send an email to: salesaddresses@nxp.com
Date of release: 24 June 2009
Document identifier: AN10322_2
Please be aware that important notices concerning this document and the product(s)
described herein, have been included in section Legal information.
8. Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Principle of operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3 Virtual Earth current sensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4 Sense resistor current sensing . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
7 Legal information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7.1 Denitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7.2 Disclaimers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7.3 Trademarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
8 Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10