Press Releases
Intersil's Five-Output Power Controller Family Delivers the Industry’s Most Integrated ACPI Motherboard Power System

— New power management ICs provide five Active or Sleep-State Voltages on ACPI-Compliant Computer Motherboards
— Devices conform to computer OEM Power Line Disturbance test standards

IRVINE, Calif., May 24, 2000 — Intersil (NASDAQ: ISIL), a leader of silicon technology for integrated communications applications, announced today the introduction of the HIP6500B and HIP6502B multiple-output regulators for computer motherboards that support the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) power management specification. The new ACPI circuits are an enhancement to Intersil’s existing HIP6500 and HIP6502 five-output power linear controllers.

Implementation into the ACPI power system is simple and beneficial. The HIP6500B and HIP6502B include "smart" circuitry that detects AC power loss during motherboard active and sleep power states and operates seamlessly with the ACPI software to regulate active and sleep-state voltages. Intersil’s two-chipset approach provides the industry’s most-highly integrated power management solution for computer motherboards using Pentium^® and Celeron™ microprocessors from Intel^®, and chipsets from Intel, Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS), Via Technologies, and Acer Labs, Inc. (Ali).

"These ACPI power management devices are specifically designed to pass the stringent Power Line Disturbance test that computer OEMs perform to ensure motherboard reliability and engineering quality," said Steve Rivet, Director of Intersil's Desktop/Server Power Management Products Group. "Intersil’s development team worked very closely with leading computer OEMs, spending numerous hours of lab time to ensure the devices meet all the critical AC power specifications. This collaboration has resulted in a product family that has the smarts to switch the computer motherboard into the correct power mode and eliminate any possibility of the on-board dc/dc converter remaining in the previous state."

The Power Line Disturbance test typically simulates a 50 percent loss of DC supply voltage, a range known as "brown-out" voltage. During the active-mode test the power management system must respond by switching the CPU peripherals, such as the memory, USB, PCI, keyboard, and mouse, into the correct stand-by mode. During the stand-by mode test the power management system must ensure that the computer does not attempt to restart while being placed into the sleep state.

The HIP6500B and HIP6502B improve system reliability by interfacing with the computer system through four digital lines that enable four support configurations and ACPI interface control. This allows the computer operating system to control the system hardware and delegate power delivery according to the requirements of each individual sub-system block.

Up to 35 discrete components are replaced by the HIP6500B and HIP6502B through the integration of five linear regulators, reducing printed circuit board (PCB) area and surface-mount component placement costs. The HIP6500B and HIP6502B offer soft start, over current, under voltage protection, and over temperature system monitoring and protection features. The devices also prevent "illegal" ACPI state transitions.

The HIP6500B and HIP6502B use a standard ATX supply ("silver box") and work with the Intersil HIP6020/21 four-in-one Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) controllers and 30V n-channel UltraFET^® MOSFETs.

Pricing and Availability
The HIP6500B and HIP6502B are offered in 20-pin narrow-body SOIC packages. Pricing for the HIP6500BCB in the 20L SOIC package is $2.07 in quantities of 10,000, and the HIP6502BCB in a 20L SOIC package is $2.11 in quantities of 10,000.

About Intersil Corporation
Intersil Corporation uses semiconductor expertise to enable highly integrated voice, data and video communications. Intersil's integrated communications portfolio includes PRISM^® Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) chip sets that enable mobile connectivity products for the home and office; analog, mixed-signal and digital integrated circuits for broadband access to wireless and wired Wide Area Networks (WANs); and power management products that enable 24x7 reliability in network servers, next generation PCs and information appliances. For more information about Intersil, visit the company's Internet homepage at www.intersil.com.

UltraFET and PRISM is a registered trademarks of Intersil Corporation.
Pentium, Celeron and Intel are registered trademarks of Intel.