The rapid growth of LED lighting has in turn led to robust demand for power management ICs. Responding to the demand, Japanese foundry company Tower Jazz has released a 17 Ω mm2, 750-V device that reportedly will help customers reduce die size for AC to DC converters, by a factor of two relative to its prior technology.
According to the company, TowerJazz’s technology yields cost advantages for customers building next-generation ICs for AC to DC converters in applications such as power supplies and LED lights. The technology leverages the company’s 700-V process technology and requires only 16 masking layers for a two layer metal process. The new technology does not add masking layers, preserving this significant advantage over other solutions while reducing on-resistance and shrinking die size significantly, says the company.
In addition to AC to DC conversion, TowerJazz’s 700-V technology includes a level-shifting device that makes the technology ideal for gate drivers of IGBTs and discrete power MOSFETs used for example in electrical motors. The quick adoption of electrical motors in white good appliances is providing another fast path for this technology.
“This innovation will provide a significant advantage to our customers in the fast-growth but cost-sensitive LED lighting market,” said Dr. Marco Racanelli SVP of Power, RF and HPA Business Units at TowerJazz, in a statement. “This innovation and 700-V platform complements our broad power management offering that includes an industry leading 0.18-um, 60V BCD technology with embedded NVM now available in two 8-inch factories.”