TLV3801: TLV3801:thermal pad to inner plane

These packages were originally designed for switching power supplies; for logic devices, the pad usually does not need to be connected.

Comparing R_qJB and R_qJA, and assuming an infinitely large board, the quiescent supply current will result in a temperature increase of 20 mA × 5 V × 36.2 °C/W = 3.62 °C (with complete pad connection) vs. 20 mA × 5 V × 69.4 °C/W = 6.94 °C (without connection) above ambient. I have not been able to find information about the power dissipation capacitance, but this appears to be far away from having thermal problems.

Hello Hidemasa,

We do not recommend floating the thermal pad.

The pad is not bonded-out specifically to any pin, but it is in contact with the bottom of the die through conductive mount compound - so it is not really "floating".

Because of this, the thermal pad should be tied to the most negative voltage (usually directly to VEE) to minimize any possible leakage paths.

Also  floating the pad can allow noise into, or out of, the device (the internal junctions can capacitively couple to the bottom "plate" - think of a bottom ground plane of a PCB.)

As Clemens stated, there are not any real thermal problems - just a few degrees of self heating. The power dissipation may rise slightly at high toggle rates (LVDS output supply current is fairly constant).

Hello to all,

I understand that thermal problems almost never happen, but to reduce noise the thermal pad is recommended to connect to negative voltage.

For more stability, I will connect to the inner negative plane.

Thank you,