“Smart Power Stage” Module Ups Power Density, Efficiency

Shrinking available board space in next-generation server and telecom system power-delivery applications led to Fairchild Semiconductor’s development of the smart power stage (SPS) module family. The MOSFET plus driver power stage modules integrate the company’s DrMOS technology to boost efficiency, power density, and switching frequency in applications such as synchronous buck dc-dc converters. Thanks to its integrated approached, the power stage is optimized for driver and MOSFET dynamic performance, system inductance, and power MOSFET R_DS(ON). Fairchild’s PowerTrench MOSFET technology helps reduce ringing, eliminating the need for a snubber circuit in most buck-converter applications. Other features include thermal monitoring, programmable thermal shutdown (with adjustable threshold), zero-cross-detect (ZCD) circuitry, and catastrophic fault detection. A 3-µA shutdown current maintains the system’s low quiescent current. Packaging is a 5- by 5- by 0.75-mm PQFN with Dual Cool technology, which allows the module to dissipate heat from both the bottom, through the printed-circuit board, and the top side of the module, through the air or via a heatsink.

FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR