New Industry Products

Micrel Rolls Out New High Voltage Synchronous Buck Controller With Low EMI Option

October 31, 2007 by Jeff Shepard

Micrel Inc. introduced the MIC2130/1, a new series of high voltage synchronous buck controller ICs offering a frequency dithering feature that minimizes EMI and adheres to global EMC standards.

Targeted at the industrial, communication, automotive and high-end consumer markets, the solutions are suitable for high voltage and high efficiency point of load systems, including printer head drivers, gaming applications and mobile entertainment systems.

"Industrial, automotive and medical applications have rigorous quality and performance specifications that frequently require the lowest possible EMI and tolerance to high input voltages," noted Ralf Muenster, Micrel’s Marketing Director for Power Products. "In order to meet global EMC specifications, Micrel’s MIC2131 features a +/-12% switching frequency dithering to produce a spread spectrum thereby lowering the EMI peaks. In addition, the synchronous operation gives designers the highest possible efficiency with the best performance for a variety of FETs."

The MIC21301/1 operates over a wide input voltage range of 8 to 40V and offers adjustable output voltages down to 0.7V. The device features a 150KHz frequency option, available now, which allows optimization for best efficiency or size. The solution also offers internal drivers for output currents up to 15A and an adaptive gate drive allows efficiencies of more than 95% The ICs provide better than 2% output voltage accuracy over -40 to +125°C and what is described as excellent line and load regulation thanks to a fast hysteretic control loop during transients.

The MIC2131 has advanced current limit protection which allows for increased current when powering highly capacitive loads quickly. The ICs are now available in a 150kHz, 16-pin e-pad TSSOP option. The 400Khz frequency option and the MLF®-16 4 x 4mm package option will both be available in the first quarter of 2008.

The ICs are currently available in volume quantities, with pricing starting at $1.63 for 1K quantities.