5.5-V, 4-A Auto-Grade Synchronous Buck Converter Features I2C Interface
Diodes Inc.’s AP61406Q 5.5-V, 4-A, automotive-compliant, synchronous buck converter features a compact footprint, low quiescent current (IQ), and an I2C interface. Designers can use the I2C interface to adjust several of the converter’s parameters to meet the stringent performance and efficiency requirements of automotive point-of-load (POL) applications. These include infotainment, instrument clusters, telematics, and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).
The AP61406Q operates with an input voltage range of 2.3 to 5.5 V. It integrates a 75-mΩ high-side and 33-mΩ low-side power MOSFET to provide high-efficiency, step-down DC-DC conversion.
Constant on-time (COT) control minimizes external component count, facilitates loop stabilization, and results in low output-voltage ripple. A proprietary gate driver scheme reduces radiated EMI by suppressing switching-node ringing without compromising MOSFET turn-on and turn-off times.
The converter’s I2C 3.0-compatible serial interface enables selection of VOUT in 20-mV increments as well as other parameters, including pulse-width-modulation/pulse-frequency-modulation (PWM/PFM) modes and frequencies (1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 MHz) and output currents (1, 2, 3, and 4 A). The multifunction enable (EN) input also provides control of the mode of operation for low IQ (20 µA), high-load efficiency in fixed PFM mode or equal ripple across load conditions in PWM mode.
The AP61406Q is available in a W-QFN1520-8/SWP (Type UX) package, for use in high ambient temperatures. It’s priced at $0.24 in 1,000-piece quantities. A standard compliance version, AP61406, is available and suitable for industrial and consumer applications.
About the Author
Lee Goldberg
Contributing Editor
Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.
Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.
Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.
Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.
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