New Industry Products

IR Integrated Voltage Regulators Deliver Benchmark Efficiency & High Density for Data Center Applications

February 10, 2010 by Jeff Shepard

International Rectifier (IR) announced the expansion of its SupIRBuck™ family of integrated point-of-load (POL) voltage regulators for energy-efficient high performance server, storage and netcom applications.

The Gen2.1 SupIRBuck family features IR’s latest advances in control IC, MOSFET and package integration technologies to deliver up to 12A output current in a low profile, thermally enhanced 5 x 6mm Power QFN package. Capable of handling input voltages as wide as 1.5 to 16V, the new family of integrated voltage regulators is designed to deliver output voltages from 0.7V to 90% of the input voltage with benchmark efficiency over the entire load range and peak efficiency greater than 96%. As a result of delivering programmable switching frequencies up to 1.5MHz, the devices shrink board size as well as achieving high power density.

The Gen2.1 family is said to eliminate the need for traditional dual stage POL conversion by operating directly from 12V, and while optimized for 12V input voltage, superior efficiencies are also achieved in applications with 9.6, 5 or 3.3V input voltages. In addition to providing pin compatible current options from 2 to 12A, the Gen2.1 SupIRBuck devices offer new power good (PGOOD) output window comparator for over-voltage and under-voltage detection, shorter deadtime to reduce power losses and more precise over-current (OC) limit.

"The Gen2.1 SupIRBuck family has been enhanced, offering more features, better performance and new current options while maintaining the same 5 x 6mm QFN package," said Cecilia Contenti, product marketing manager, POL group, IR’s Enterprise Power Business Unit. "The improved functionality and programmability make these Gen2.1 devices a full featured, high performance compact solution for server, storage and netcom applications allowing easy on-board implementation for fast time to market," she added.

"With the expansion of the SupIRBuck family, IR reaffirms its commitment to continuously improve the product line according to market trends and customer needs," added Goran Stojcic, Executive Director, POL group, IR’s Enterprise Power Business Unit.

Additional features include 1% accurate 0.7V reference voltage, programmable hiccup current limit, programmable soft start, enhanced pre-bias start up, thermal protection, enable pin with voltage monitoring capability, sequencing (IR384xW), DDR memory tracking (IR383xW), and -40 to 125°C operating junction temperature (Tj).

Pricing for the IR3843W begins at US $1.38 each in 1,000-unit quantities. The IR3842W and IR3832W cost US $1.56 each, while the IR3841W and IR3831W cost US $1.81 each in 1,000-unit quantities. Pricing for the IR3840W begins at US $2.31 each also in 1,000-unit quantities. Pricing for the IRDC38xxW SupIRBuck reference designs start at US $75 per kit.