News & Events
Intersil Introduces the First 3.3-V Micro-sized PWM Controllers Capable of Driving Inexpensive Standard Power Switches

-- The only power controllers that eliminate the use of costly low logic level power switches~-- New Endura ICs are thin, small, fast, accurate, efficient and enable the industry’s lowest materials cost

IRVINE, CA, February 20, 2002 – Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL), a leading provider of power management solutions for PCs, file servers and portable information appliances, today announced the new Endura™ ISL6526 and ISL6527 micro-sized 3.3-V single Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) controllers. These ICs are specifically designed to save board space and reduce costs for designers while improving performance versus competitive offerings. Both controllers are available in a 16-lead, 5 X 5 mm Micro Lead Frame Plastic (MLFP) package, and a 14-lead Small Outline Integrated Circuit (SOIC) package. Both commercial and industrial temperature ranges are available.

“Increasing system complexities and the push to higher density layouts on motherboards, peripheral cards, and voltage regulator modules are driving the demand for more highly integrated devices in smaller packages,” said Cindy Drapcho, director of Desktop and Server Power Solutions for Intersil’s Analog Business Unit. “The ISL6526 and ISL6527 are perfect examples of this increased integration in smaller packaging. Both PWM controllers enable space-saving board layouts because of small package size, high feature integration for fewer external components and high switching frequency for smaller output filters.”

The ISL6526 and ISL6527 are all-in-one controllers that include on-chip MOSFET drivers with control logic, a fast 300 kHz or 600 kHz switching oscillator, low voltage reference, error amplifier, digital soft-start control, voltage and current protection, as well as the industry’s first fully-integrated charge pump — all in an SOIC or MLFP package.

The controllers’ fully integrated charge pump enables designers to reduce the power converter bill-of-material cost by allowing the use of less-costly standard logic-level n-channel MOSFETs that have a higher gate-to-source threshold voltage (Vgs(th)). The gate-to-source threshold voltage is the controlling parameter of the power switch on/off state. The lower the Vgs(th) rating is and the higher the Vgs drive voltage is, the easier the power MOSFET turns on and becomes fully conductive. The on-board charge pump provides a higher Vgs drive voltage to turn on less costly standard logic level n-channel MOSFETs that have a higher Vgs(th) rating. However, should the designer choose to use low-logic-level n-channel MOSFETs in the design, a 6% boost in efficiency for a 6 A dc/dc converter can be realized over solutions using other power controllers.

These new PWM controllers are suitable for power control in end products such as workstations, file servers, set top boxes, gateways, cable modems, DSL modems and point-of-load dc/dc converter modules. Targeted applications include workstation and server memory core and termination power, on-board I/O chipset supplies, power converters for graphics processors, DSP and communications processor supplies and other low-voltage supplies.

ISL6526 and ISL6527 Technical Details
Features of both ICs include:

• Operate from 3.3 V to 5V input voltage, output voltage range Vref to VIN where Vref is 0.8 V
• Voltage accuracy of +/-1.5% over full range of load, line voltage and temperature
• Source and sink load current
• Directly drive N-channel MOSFETs - on-board charge pump to drive less-costly switches
• Simple voltage-mode PWM with full 0 to 100% duty cycle control
• Loss-less and programmable over-current protection
• Control: Internal soft start, over-voltage, over-current, under-voltage and enable
• Choice of 14-lead SOIC or 16-lead 5 X 5 mm MLFP package - MLFP offers 54% area savings
• Choice of fixed 300 kHz or 600 kHz switching frequency
• Choice of commercial (0 to 70 C) or industrial (-40 to +85 C) temperature ranges
• ISL6527 has pin for external voltage reference
• Evaluation boards: ISL6526/27EVAL1 SOIC, ISL6526/27EVAL2 MLFP

The only difference between the ISL6526 and ISL6527 is the external voltage reference input pin on the ISL6527. This allows designers to use a different voltage reference to modify the output voltage range. The external voltage reference input pin also allows the ISL6527 to operate as a DDR memory active termination power controller. The ISL6527 accurately tracks the memory core voltage and regulates its own output to half of the memory core, while sourcing or sinking the termination bus load. This is a requirement for the active termination bus in DDR memory systems widely found in computers, switches, and routers.

ISL6526 and ISL6527 Pricing and Availability
Both ICs are available now. Prices per IC on tape and reel in 4,999 to 9,999 quantities are as follows:

ISL6526CB-T	0 to 70 C	14-lead SOIC	300 kHz	$1.23
ISL6526ACB-T	0 to 70 C	14-lead SOIC	600 kHz	$1.30
ISL6526CR-T	0 to 70 C	16-lead MLFP	600 kHz	$1.30
ISL6526IB-T	-40 to 85 C	14-lead SOIC	300 kHz	$1.35
ISL6526AIB-T	-40 to 85 C	14-lead SOIC	600 kHz	$1.40
ISL6526IR-T	-40 to 85 C	16-lead MLFP	300 kHz	$1.35
ISL6526AIR-T	-40 to 85 C	16-lead MLFP	600 kHz	$1.40
ISL6527CB-T	0 to 70 C	14-lead SOIC	300 kHz	$1.30
ISL6527ACB-T	0 to 70 C	14-lead SOIC	600 kHz	$1.35
ISL6527CR-T	0 to 70 C	16-lead MLFP	300 kHz	$1.30
ISL6527ACR-T	0 to 70 C	16-lead MLFP	600 kHz	$1.35
ISL6527IB-T	-40 to 85 C	14-lead SOIC	300 kHz	$1.40
ISL6527AIB-T	-40 to 85 C	14-lead SOIC	600 kHz	$1.45
ISL6527IR-T	-40 to 85 C	16-lead MLFP	300 kHz	$1.40
ISL6527AIR-T	-40 to 85 C	16-lead MLFP	600 kHz	$1.45

Intersil Power Management Technology
The Intersil Endura product family consists of leading power management solutions for desktop and mobile PCs, workstations, Internet appliances, I/O cards, RAID systems and high-availability servers. The Endura family includes high-efficiency solutions that are used in portable PCs and mobile information appliances as well as residential gateway products. Intersil’s leadership position has grown, capturing over 50 percent of the AMD Athlon™ and Intel® Pentium® 4 processors and providing power management solutions for next generation desktop, portable and wireless communications devices. The company is the first to introduce a complete cost effective power solution for new and next generation PCs that uses a multiphase power configuration to achieve unparalleled precision and efficiency. Learn more about Intersil’s Endura products at: http://www.intersil.com/endura About Intersil
Intersil is a global leader in designing innovative wireless networking and high performance analog solutions that enable wireless access to video, data and voice in homes, offices and public places. Creating advanced power management products, Intersil provides reliable solutions for file servers, portable information appliances and over half of all computer microprocessors manufactured today. With a rich high performance analog and mixed signal portfolio, Intersil brings added value in providing complete silicon, software and reference design solutions to new products that bring portable connectivity to people wherever they live, work or travel. Headquartered in Irvine, California, Intersil has offices in cities throughout the US, Europe and Asia. For more information about Intersil or to find out how to become a member of our winning team, visit the company's Web site and career page at: www.intersil.com.

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