Infineon Launches Industry’s First Radiation-Hardened Buck Controller with Integrated Gate Drive

­Infineon Technologies AG announced the industry's first radiation-hardened (rad-hard) buck controller with an integrated gate drive. Designed for Point of Load (PoL) power rails in commercial space systems and other extreme environments, the new device is particularly well-suited for distributed satellite power systems and digital processing payloads, including FPGA and ASIC systems. 

The RIC70847 integrates a radiation hardened 17.1 V buck controller with a 5 V (output) half-bridge gate drive and is ideal for applications with a power input range of 4.75 V to 15 V and power output range of 0.6 V to 5.25 V. It is designed to work seamlessly with logic-level transistors, such as Infineon’s rad-hard R8 power FET. The device meets the MIL spec temperature range, -55°C to 125°C, and meets the stringent requirements of applications that demand a Total Ionizing Dose (TID) rating of up to 100 krad (Si) and Single Event Effects (SEE) characterized up to a Linear Energy Transfer (LET) of 81.9 MeV·cm²/mg.
 
“Infineon continues to push the boundaries of power management technology, providing designers of space systems with innovative rad-hard devices that meet the toughest performance specifications while lowering part count and improving overall reliability,” said Chris Opoczynski, Senior Vice President and General Manager, PSS HiRel, Infineon Technologies. “Highly-integrated power management devices like our new rad-hard buck controller reflect Infineon HiRel’s commitment to helping companies in the rapidly changing commercial space business create systems that meet the most demanding performance and cost requirements.” 
 
Cutting-edge technologies incorporated in the new device include load line regulation and fixed frequency peak current mode control, which deliver exceptional transient response and reduce the required amount of output capacitors. High step-down voltage ratios, combined with the integrated 5 V half-bridge gate driver simplify the design process and minimize component count also resulting in a more compact and efficient power management design.  The high level of integration also enhances system reliability and reduces the risk of component failure, ultimately providing a more robust and dependable solution for critical applications.

Availability
The Infineon 17.1 V buck RIC70847 controller is available today, along with the RIC70847EVAL1 DC/DC buck controller evaluation board, which features an integrated dynamic load step circuit for transient testing and wide support for a range of output capacitance and inductor configurations. For more information, go here.