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Visitor II
March 15, 2022
Question

Is it important to not exceeded the capacitance of 2.2 µF for the internal regulator of an STM32F722xx MCU?

  • March 15, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 1209 views

On page 109/230 of the STM32F722xx datasheet (I use the STM32F723VE) it says that the capacitance of the external capacitor that is stabilizing the internal main voltage regulator should be 2.2 µF. We use 0603 capacitors (metric; so 0201 imperial) which are rated for 6.3 V (board is running at 3.3 V). All the other capacitors on the board are 1.0 µF as well as 4.7 µF and in order to consolidate the BOM I was wondering whether I could replace that 2.2 µF with 4.7 µF. (In the comments someone suggested using two 1.0 µF capacitors instead of one 4.7 µF capacitor, which is a good idea.) I have a voltage regulator for the 5V of USB on the board as well, and for that regulator I use the 1.0 µF that the datasheet calls for, in order to not mess with USB:

"The final thing is USB specs though. It only allows for 10uF at the device input to limit surge current. Using a 10uF at the input and another 10uF at the output of the regulator could easily exceed allowable USB ratings. Also the high capacitance at the USB inlet port can cause significant voltage spikes and ringing when cable is plugged in unless dampening is taken care of, so be careful about the design."

Can I use 4.7 µF instead of 2.2 µF for the internal regulator of the STM32F722xx series or is that a bad idea?

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    2 replies

    Graduate II
    March 15, 2022

    Same question here, but I don't have the space for two 1µF caps, and as I don't have 4.7µ in the BOM, I'd even like to use 10µF.

    From my experience with LDOs I guess it's not a problem, considering that only a maximum for the cap's ESR is given, but I'd also prefer a statement from ST - or someone who tried.

    Super User
    March 15, 2022

    In general, it should work, but deviating from the datasheet is something you'd need to own and test. It will also depend on temperature and how busy your chip is.

    I'd imagine 2x1uF to be better than 4.7uF as a replacement for a 2.2uF.

    Nothing magical about 2.2uF, it's just what they test with. There is such large variation in capacitor value tolerances that there is generally quite a bit of wiggle room.