Smart power stages increase efficiency to support latest microprocessors

Vishay Intertechnology has introduced nine new 70A, 80A, and 100A VRPower smart power stages with integrated current and temperature monitoring in a thermally enhanced 5mm x 6mm PowerPAK MLP56-39 package. Intended to decrease energy costs for data centres and other high-performance computing and 5G mobile infrastructure telecom applications, the Vishay Siliconix SiC8xx family of smart power stages provide high energy efficiency and current reporting accuracy.

The power stages combine power MOSFETs and an advanced driver IC. The devices' high energy efficiency is due to their internal MOSFETs' state of the art TrenchFET Gen IV technology, which provides industry benchmark performance to notably decrease switching and conduction losses. The smart power stages achieve peak efficiency above 93% in multiple application conditions. A diode emulation mode can be enabled at light loads for high efficiency across the entire load range.

While solutions that monitor power consumption employing inductor DCR sensing provide current reporting accuracy of 7%, the SiC8xx family utilises low side MOSFET sensing for accuracy of <3%. This translates into improved performance and better thermal management for high current processors and SoCs such as those from Advanced Micro Devices, Intel Corporation, and Nvidia Corporation. The devices are optimised for synchronous buck converters; multiphase VRDs for CUPs, GPUs, and memory; and DC/DC VR modules.

The smart power stages provide a wide input range of 4.5V to 21V and high switching frequencies of up to 2MHz. Fault protection features incorporate high side MOSFET short and overcurrent alerts, overtemperature protection, and UVLO. The family supports 3.3V and 5V PWM logic with tri-state for compatibility with an extensive range of PWM controllers.