Enpirion Announces New DC-DC Converter for Solid State Drives

Enpirion announced a new member of its power IC portfolio targeted at solid-state drives (SSDs) as well as industrial embedded applications. The Enpirion EN5339 3A power system-on-a-chip (PowerSoC) integrates the controller, power MOSFETs, compensation network and inductor into one highly compact solution that significantly reduces the traditional engineering analysis and design effort associated with discrete dc-dc converter designs. Its slim profile offers Enpirion’s wide base of customers -- who offer diverse form factors including SATA, PCIe, mSATA and others – an important new alternative. The EN5339 has already landed more than 20 design wins ahead of its official market release.

"Enpirion’s portfolio of PowerSoCs supports our hardware designers in easing the process of bringing to market numerous platforms, form factors and capacities," said Jonathan Hinkle, memory system architect, Viking Technology, a leader in SSD, DRAM and hybrid technologies for the enterprise storage market. "The EN5339 is a nice addition to Enpirion’s lineup and helps streamline our power design efforts by eliminating cumbersome steps and needless iterations."

The EN5339 fits into a 55 mm(2) solution area with a 1.1 mm profile – setting the bar for the smallest 3 Amp solution available. Small form-factor SSDs, in particular, require this small area and height. Keeping up with the demands of storage, embedded and industrial applications, the EN5339 enables a 20 percent solution footprint reduction and 40 percent lower profile compared to previous Enpirion 3 Amp products.

"We continue to optimize solution size and cost without compromising the high performance and simplicity of design inherent in all Enpirion’s PowerSoCs," said Charlie Mera, Enpirion’s vice president of marketing and applications. "Our devices also offer a dramatic improvement in reliability. Clearly, designers must closely consider availability and reliability, as SSDs hold an enterprise’s mission-critical data as well as consumers’ key records and precious content."

SSDs have at least three point-of-load voltage rails that consume valuable PCB space. The EN5339’s low profile, combined with a solution footprint 75 percent smaller than competitive products, enables the highest-capacity slim SSD drives, densely stacked multi-board SSDs and mounting on the backside of PCBs.

Enpirion PowerSoCs achieve 21,800 years mean time between failure (MTBF). Enpirion high-efficiency devices are truly industrial graded and do not require load de-rating at 85°C ambient temperature. PowerSoCs are specified, simulated, characterized, validated and manufacturing-tested as a complete power system – which, when coupled with tightly controlled IC manufacturing processes and fewer total components, yields unsurpassed reliability.

Enpirion PowerSoCs require fewer design steps with significantly less exposure to design cycle iteration. Fully validated and proven PCB layout and design files are provided, enabling customers nearly 100 percent first-pass reported success. EN5339 and Enpirion high-efficiency dc-dc converters achieve up to 96 percent efficiency.

Enpirion’s EN5339 device is sampling now, with volume production by December 2011. It is available direct from Enpirion or through distribution for $1.88 at volumes of 1k units.