ASIC reference design evaluates Power Stamp concept
The Power Stamp Alliance has announced a reference design board for high-current ASIC and/or FPGA chipsets supporting the SVID (serial voltage identification) or AVS (adaptive voltage scaling) protocols.
PSA 48V direct conversion DC/DC modules are designed for high-performance computers and servers being used in large data centres, many of which follow the principles of the Open Compute Project (OCP).
The reference design board makes it easier for design engineers to evaluate the power stamp concept and products from member vendors, says the Alliance. It can help to accelerate project development for new server designs and other equipment using ASIC devices in a 48V source environment. The reference design features connections with e-loads and provides sockets to host load modules to test dynamic transient response and enable developers to simulate realistic loading conditions. The ASIC reference design board joins a reference design board designed for the Intel VR13 (codenamed Skylake) processor architecture. The Power Stamp Alliance has announced a roadmap for future reference design boards, including Intel VR13-HC (codenamed Ice Lake) and other processor architectures used in high performance computing.
The Power Stamp Alliance has created a multi-vendor ecosystem to assure practical levels of alternate source capability to server and storage system manufacturers, while encouraging a competitive supply chain through differentiation in topology, circuitry, and performance from multiple, independent manufacturers. It has published specifications, drawings and pinout descriptions for main and satellite power stamps, together with an Orcad Library and Allegro footprint package (macro) to its website to enable designers to embed Power Stamps into their own schematic, along with the linked Allegro reference footprint for proper layout. Most recently, the Alliance announced the first graphical user interface (GUI) that developers can use with products from any member company.
PSA reference design boards, power stamps and the GUI are available from PSA member representatives.
