So I found this page:
... and I'm confused by what they mean by "isolated TO220". It seems to be encased in plastic, which seems a very strange thing to do, since heat transfer is critical.
If I get the ceramic one, is there a need to isolate the back of the chip from ground?
So if you look at the data sheet it explains the difference between the isolated and non-isolated version. So if you get the isolated version then the potential of the heatsink doesn't matter. So you need to learn how to calculate what your die temperature will be for your particular application and then you'll know what to do.
Just learn what thetaJC and thetaJA for ICs means, and learn what thetaSA for heatsinks is.
Bob
Thanks for the hints. Reading closely, yes I see the tab is V-. I thought it was ground.
Interesting, the data sheet for the LM3886 shows a ground, but the LM3875 (discontinued?) does not have a ground pin.
Thanks again,
Michael
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