I recently had a DRV103H burn up ("let the smoke out") around the pin 4 quadrant of the chip. My schematic is similar to the application circuit shown in the datasheet. The event occurred when the chip was being powered, but the input level was low and there was no load at the output. I have attached a screenshot of my circuit. The 24V is being supplied by an isolated DC to DC converter. Any thoughts?
Also, I gathered from the datasheet that the power pad is to be directly soldered to the board, but to some thermal plane and not to ground. Is this correct? ("though the metal pad of the PowerPADTM SO-8 (H) package is electrically connected to ground (pin 4), no current should flow in this pad. Do NOT use the exposed metal pad as a power ground connection or erratic operation will result. For lowest overall thermal resistance, it is best to solder the PowerPADTM directly to a circuit board")
Thanks.