This charge-pump circuit quietly converts a 3.3V source to 5V at 500 mA (Figure 1 and Figure 2). National's (www.national.com) LM4871LD power amplifier makes this design idea both possible and practical, thanks to its low output resistance, low cost, compact size, and high dissipation capability. Its output resistance has an average value of 0.6Ω: 0.5Ω to ground and 0.7Ω to V_IN. Because it is a CMOS IC, each output can swing to its rail, limited only by the resistance of the output transistor. The leadless lead-frame package has a footprint smaller than an SO-8 but provides a θ_JA of 56°C/W when soldered to a board with 1 sq in. of 1-oz copper exposed. This high thermal conductivity couples with low output resistance to allow the 4871 to continuously deliver nearly 1A from each of its two outputs while operating at its full rated ambient temperature of 85°C. Internal thermal shutdown protects the device from overloads, and a shutdown pin allows you to power down the device to less than 1 µA.

Figure 2 shows the full circuit schematic, including the equivalent internal components. Amplifier IC₁ is configured as an RC oscillator similar to a 555 timer. R_T charges C_T to the voltage set by the resistor divider R_H1 and R_H2, causing the amplifier to switch states, aided by the positive feedback from the R_H resistors. The remaining internal feedback and biasing resistors connected to IC₂ configure it as a simple inverter with bias at mid-supply. The amplifier outputs switch rail-to-rail out of phase with a 50% duty cycle at a frequency approximated by the following equation:

You can calculate the output voltage across C_OUT from the following equation:



where I_OUT is the average output current, V_DIODE is the diode voltage drop at I_OUT, R_S is the source resistance of IC₁ and IC₂, ESR is that of C₁ and C₂, and C is the value of C₁=C₂.

The following equation approximates the effective output resistance at the load:

Component values as shown in Figure 1 provide a circuit that can produce 5V at 0.5A from a 3.3V source at a conversion efficiency of 78%. If necessary, you can obtain tighter regulation figures at slightly lower output current by adding a low-dropout linear regulator, such as the LP3961. At a 500-mA load it introduces a drop of only 150 mV. Its addition provides good line and load regulation over the range I_OUT=0 to 500 mA (Figure 3). You can also use the circuits of Figure 1 and Figure 3 to provide 3.3V at 500 mA from a 2.5V source.

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