Today's most important systems can't tolerate downtime. We never want to shut down telephone exchanges, data-network equipment, cellular-communication facilities, or hospital information systems.

The core of a hot-swap controller is its LCA, so the ability to intuitively program the amplifier to operate over a wide output-current range, using simple resistors and capacitors, is critical.

Find a downloadable version of this story in pdf format at the end of the story. TYPICAL HIGH-SIDE, n-channel, hot-swap “soft-switch” systems use a charge pump to drive the gate of an external MOSFET ...