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TPS7A16A-Q1: Thermal Pad Isolation

cfranRL
Prodigy 30 points
Part Number: TPS7A16A-Q1

Tool/software:

Hello,

Is TPS7A16A-Q1 thermal pad isolated from GND (pin 4)?
It's unclear because of the datasheet wording: "TI highly recommends connecting the thermal pad to the GND plane."
(My thermal plane will be a different net than GND, so need confirmation)

  • 0
    TI__Mastermind 36805 points

    Hello,

    Thermal pads are meant to offer a low thermal impedance to the die to help dissipate the heat, but this is not the same as a low electrical connection to device GND.  Thus, the thermal pad and GND pin are not the same thing.  The thermal pad may measure ohms between it and the device GND. The comment in the datasheet provides our guidance based on the understanding that the GND plane offers the most copper in the system to help dissipate the heat.  I'll check later in the office if we have any samples that I can measure the resistance between the GND pin and the thermal pad.  If we don't have any samples, I can request some but they take 5 business days to ship / receive and another 1-2 business days to arrive to my desk, so it may take a small amount of time to give you an answer.

    Thanks,

    Stephen

  • 0 in reply to Stephen Ziel
    TI__Mastermind 36805 points

    Hello,

    I have a TPS7A1601DRBR available and I used a multimeter to measure the resistance between the thermal pad and the GND pin - it measures high impedance regardless of which DMM probe is connected to the GND pin and thermal pad.  I also checked this connected in diode mode on the DMM but that too measured high impedance (no ESD diode or anything like that was measured). 

    Thanks,

    Stephen