Industry Showcases Advanced Power Components at APEC

Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM
By David Morrison, Editor in Chief

Many of the vendors participating in this year's Applied Power Electronics Technology Conference and Exhibition (APEC), Feb. 24-28 in Austin, Texas, will be introducing or demonstrating new products at their booths. A wide variety of new component types will be on display including the latest power semiconductor devices — discretes, modules and ICs, as well as supporting products such as power-supply reference designs.

There also will be announcements and demos of passive components such as current-sense resistors, magnetic devices, connectors and thermal management products. In addition, equipment manufacturers will hope to pique designers' interest with new test equipment for power-supply design and manufacturing. Meanwhile, attendees walking the show floor will be able to catch a glimpse of some recently developed ac-dc power supplies.

Though these products represent an array of technologies and target a range of applications, many share the common purpose of increasing power-supply efficiency. In several cases, components have been developed with specific ENERGY STAR requirements in mind. Beyond efficiency, numerous components have been crafted to provide higher power density and better thermal management in their applications.

Product Introductions

Infineon Technologies AG (www.infineon.com) will add three new families of power semiconductors to its OptiMOS 3 N-channel MOSFET portfolio. The new devices carry breakdown voltage ratings of 40 V, 60 V and 80 V. The OptiMOS 3 40-V family meets the needs of fast-switching switch-mode power supplies (SMPSs) and dc-dc converters in a variety of applications, including printers and nonisolated industrial converters, in which 30-V MOSFETs are inadequate.

The OptiMOS 3 60-V and 80-V families are primarily intended for secondary-side rectification in SMPSs and dc motor controls, and the 80-V devices are also ideally suited for telecom applications. The families include MOSFETs that are said to offer best-in-class on-resistance, achieving an R_DSON as low as 0.85 mΩ for OptiMOS 3 40 V, 1 mΩ for OptiMOS 3 60 V and 2.7 mΩ for OptiMOS 3 80 V. The figure of merit (FOM) for the new devices is as much as 25% better than comparable parts, claims the company. Additionally, the 60-V and 80-V families offer a hot-swap capability.

Vishay (www.vishay.com) will feature the first device in its third-generation TrenchFET power MOSFET family. According to the vendor, this 30-V-rated device will offer industry-best specifications for on-resistance as well as for FOM. The Si7192DP, an n-channel device in the PowerPAK SO-8, features a maximum on-resistance of 2.25 mΩ at a 4.5-V gate drive. The on-resistance times gate-charge FOM for this MOSFET is 98, which reflects a V_DS of 30 V and a V_GS of 20 V. Compared to the closest competing devices optimized for low conduction losses and low switching losses, respectively, these specifications represent an improvement in on-resistance of 2% and in FOM of 1%, says Vishay.

International Rectifier (www.irf.com) plans to launch a dc-dc converter IC and a family of 600-V Trench IGBTs at APEC. The IC is the latest product in the company's Enterprise Power portfolio, using proprietary technology for low-voltage dc-dc converters used in notebooks, desktop computers and energy-efficient servers to help realize energy savings. The new IGBT family will offer lower conduction switching losses and increased power density in the TO-247 package.

Primarion’s PX3664, a digital multiphase power controller.

Primarion (www.primarion.com) will introduce the PX3664, a digital multiphase power controller with dynamic phasing for synchronous dc-dc buck converters in computing and communications applications. Described as highly configurable and easy to use, this controller improves overall system efficiency across the entire operating load range with its autonomous phase dropping/adding capability. The PX3664's dynamic phasing capability allows the system to shed one or more phases based on the user-defined average current.

According to the vendor, the PX3664 addresses demands for higher light-load efficiency by delivering more than 90% efficiency across the entire operating range. In addition, this digital controller optimizes loop compensation while operating with a lower number of phases to maintain system stability. With up to four phases, each capable of up to 2 MHz of operation, the PX3664 can be used to build dc-dc converters that provide up to 120 A, low ripple, and low component count. Available for general sampling this quarter, the PX3664 comes in a 7-mm × 7-mm 48-lead QFN package.

Fairchild Semiconductor’s synchronous rectifi cation module.

Fairchild Semiconductor (www.fairchildsemi.com) will offer power-supply designers a synchronous rectification module that increases efficiency in power supplies to meet stringent ENERGY STAR requirements. The FPP06R001 improves efficiency, simplifies design, reduces board space and enhances overall reliability by integrating two MOSFETs and a gate-drive IC into one thermally efficient package.

This high-level integration also eliminates the traditional bipolar components needed for the high current driver. When used in applications with secondary-side rectification, the module helps designers meet the ENERGY STAR requirements mandating 80% efficiency for the power-supply unit (PSU) at 20%, 50% and 100% of rated output.

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