Digital Hybrid PWM Controllers with PMBus Simplify Power Supply Design for Data Center

Intersil Corporation announced two new PMBus™ compatible, single-phase digital hybrid DC/DC controllers that provide point-of-load (POL) conversions for FPGAs, DSPs, ASICs, processors and general purpose system rails. The ISL68200 with integrated MOSFET drivers and ISL68201 with PWM output simplify power supply designs for data center routers, servers and storage, as well as wireless infrastructure equipment. The ISL68200 can drive external MOSFETs directly, while the ISL68201 is paired with Intersil’s DrMOS (Integrated Driver and MOSFET) power stage to create a complete voltage regulator solution. The ISL68200/01 will be demonstrated with PowerNavigator™ software in Intersil’s booth #2117 at the Applied Power Electronics Conference and Expo (APEC) in Long Beach, Calif., March 21-23.

The ISL68200 and ISL68201 digital hybrid controllers provide the performance of Intersil’s R4™ control loop with the benefits of a digital PMBus interface. Both controllers are fully configurable with external pin-strap resistors, which provide a familiar engineering design flow and eliminate the need for non-volatile memory. Designers can use the PMBus interface and Intersil’s PowerNavigator GUI software to read back Vin, Vout, Iout and temperature telemetry, monitor fault reporting bits, and conduct on the fly changes to the Vout setpoint. For systems where PMBus functionality is not required, the interface can be used to debug the power supply during board bring-up, and then left disconnected in final production. This feature speeds development by allowing designers to quickly modify important parameters like switching frequency, output voltage and loop gain to fine-tune power supply performance without using a soldering iron to change components.

The ISL68200 and ISL68201 leverage Intersil’s proprietary R4 modulation technology, which provides a compensation free control loop that eliminates external compensation resistors and capacitors. The R4 modulator includes energy saving light-load efficiency modes of operation, and has industry-leading transient performance, adjusting both duty cycle and switching frequency in response to load transients. The R4 control loop’s fast response time significantly reduces the amount of output capacitance required versus competing technologies. This, coupled with the ISL68200/01’s small 4mm x4mm package size, enables a smaller total solution size than competitive products. 

About Intersil

Intersil Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corporation, is a leading provider of innovative power management and precision analog solutions. The company's products form the building blocks of increasingly intelligent, mobile and power hungry electronics enabling advances in power management to improve efficiency and extend battery life. With a deep portfolio of intellectual property and a rich history of design and process innovation, Intersil is the trusted partner to leading companies in some of the world's largest markets, including the industrial and infrastructure, mobile computing, automotive and aerospace.