The LTC®3608 is a high effi ciency, monolithic synchronousstep-down DC/DC converter that can deliver up to 8A outputcurrent from a 4V to 18V (20V maximum) input supply. Ituses a valley current control architecture to deliver verylow duty cycle operation at high frequency with excellenttransient response. The operating frequency is selectedby an external resistor and is compensated for variationsin VIN and VOUT.The LTC3608 can be confi gured for discontinuous orforced continuous operation at light load. Forced continuousoperation reduces noise and RF interference whilediscontinuous mode provides high effi ciency by reducingswitching losses at light loads.Fault protection is provided by internal foldback currentlimiting, an output overvoltage comparator and an optionalshort-circuit shutdown timer. Soft-start capability for supplysequencing is accomplished using an external timingcapacitor. The regulator current limit is user programmable.A power good output voltage monitor indicates whenthe output is in regulation. The LTC3608 is available in acompact 7mm × 8mm QFN package.