New family of converters supports dynamic voltage scaling (DVS)/voltage margining to power next generation chipsets and FPGAs
Alpha and Omega Semiconductor (AOS) introduced a new family of EZBuck™ regulators featuring I2C control. The first two members of the family are the 4 A AOZ2231CQI-01 and the 8 A AOZ2233CQI-02. The new devices provide a compact, efficient power converter solution for next-generation chipsets and FPGAs used in high-end TVs, set-top boxes, data storage systems, servers and other embedded systems.
Next generation microprocessors and SoCs often use dynamic voltage scaling to reduce power dissipation and improve system performance. Implementing dynamic voltage scaling in a DC/DC converter often requires several external components. The 4 A, AOZ2231CQI-01 and the 8 A AOZ2233CQI-02 make the design of such converters simple by allowing the system designer to control the output voltage from 0.6 V to 1.79 V using an I2C interface with 9.375 mV steps.
The new devices have all the integration advantages of the EZBuck family of products. Combining AOS’ benchmark MOSFET technology with advanced packaging technology enables high-performance DC/DC regulators in a compact footprint. AOS’ performance MOSFETs enable high efficiency over the entire load range, and light load efficiency gets a further boost with an optional pulse frequency mode (PFM). Both the 4 A and the 8 A devices are available in footprint compatible QFN 4 × 4 mm package allowing designers an easy upgrade path as power requirements increase. The devices operate over a wide input voltage range of 6.5 V to 28 V and have a built-in 5.3 V regulator making single supply operation possible. The proprietary COT architecture provides ultra-fast load transient response performance and allows stable and low voltage ripple operation with small size ceramic capacitors. Competing solutions require several external components when using all ceramic capacitors and need to generate a larger output ripple voltage to stabilize the circuit. Additionally, the input feed forward feature provides a constant switching frequency over the entire input voltage range, which further alleviates noise concerns for designers.
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| Efficiency of AOZ2231CQI-01 vs. Load Current. |
Pricing and Availability
The AOZ2231CQI-01 and the AOZ2233CQI-02 are immediately available in production quantities with a lead-time of 12 weeks. The unit price for 1,000 pieces is $1.43 for the AOZ2231CQI-01 and $1.86 for the AOZ2233CQI-02.
