Scalable digital controllers simplify power supply design, says Renesas Electronics
Two PMBus-compliant, digital DC/DC controllers released by Renesas Electronics, provide single output point of load (PoL) conversions for FPGAs, DSPs, ASICs, network processors and general purpose system rails. The ISL68300 has integrated MOSFET drivers while the ISL68301 has PWM output to simplify the design of power supplies for data centre, wired and wireless communications, and factory automation equipment.
The ISL68300 can drive discrete external MOSFETs directly, while the ISL68301 pairs with Renesas’ smart power stages or DrMOS power stages to create a complete voltage regulator solution.
The ISL68300 and ISL68301 digital controllers feature a high-speed current share bus that parallels up to eight controllers in an eight-phase 240A+ current share configuration. Both controllers implement Renesas’ digital ChargeMode control modulation, which responds to load transients in a single switching cycle, and provides an inherently stable control loop without requiring external compensation. This modulation architecture significantly reduces output capacitor requirements and minimises V out undershoot and overshoot, claims Renesas.
The scalability of the ISL68300 and ISL68301 single output digital controllers is claimed to provide industry leading performance and support a range of load currents.
Engineers can use the PowerNavigator GUI with the ISL68300 and ISL68301 to simplify power supply set-up, sequencing, configuration and monitoring, including all device parameters and telemetry. Full schematic designs are completed in minutes, and the GUI with PMBus makes it easy to control the entire design and change features without soldering components or rework, adds Renesas.
The ISL68300 and ISL68301 digital controllers can parallel up to eight controllers in a single droop-less current sharing output. Output voltage range is 0.45 to 5.5V and input range is 4.75 to 16V or 4.5 to 5.5V.
The proprietary single-wire Digital-DC (DDC) serial bus enables voltage sequencing and fault spreading with other Renesas digital power ICs. Another feature is the cycle-by-cycle inductor peak current protection and configurable fault protection for Vout under-voltage, over-voltage, V in under-voltage/over-voltage and temperature. The non volatile memory stores operating parameters and records telemetry fault events.
In a typical FPGA power supply, the ISL68300 and ISL68301 digital controllers provide single output 10 to 40A+ for auxiliary rails, DDR memory, and system rails. The companion Renesas digital multiphase controllers use smart power stages to provide dual output 15 to 70A, or higher core power.
The ISL68300 is available now in a 4.0 x 4.0, 24-lead QFN package. The ISL68301 with PWM output for pairing with ISL99227B smart power stages or DrMOS power stages is available now in a 4.0 x 4.0mm, 24-lead QFN package.
Single-phase and two-phase evaluation boards are also available.
