Intersil's fully-integrated 6A digital switching regulator drives next-generation power infrastructures

Date
01/17/2014

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ZL2102 6 Amp digital synchronous step-down DC/DC power regulator

Intersil, a leading provider of innovative power management and precision analog solutions, expanded its industry-leading family of power management ICs with the new ZL2102, a 6 Amp digital synchronous step-down DC/DC power regulator. The new ZL2102 is a fully-integrated, auto compensated DC/DC regulator able to support adjustable output voltages of 0.54V to 5.5V operating from input voltages from 4.5V up to 14V. A high level of integration and ease of configurability make the ZL2102 a reliable building block for even the most sophisticated infrastructure power system applications.

The ZL2102 DC/DC regulator is part of Intersil’s third generation digital power platform which employs auto compensation, a feature that characterizes the power stage and automatically adjusts accordingly, generating a stable and reliable solution. Auto compensation enables faster design time through the elimination of complex design calculations while providing a highly reliable power supply that can adapt over time to external component aging.

The ZL2102 is a high-performance solution in a small 6mm x 6mm footprint. Integrated synchronous power MOSFETs allow the ZL2102 to deliver continuous loads up to 6A from 4.5V to 14V with high efficiency. With integrated compensation, a bootstrap diode and internal low dropout regulators (LDOs) that provide voltage to the internal gate driver, a complete ZL2102-based design can be created using minimal external components and board space.

The ZL2102 was developed from the ground-up to reduce design time. The ZL2102 can be completely configured with external pin-strap or resistor settings allowing for setup of all key parameters and adjustment of switching frequency, output voltage, soft-start ramp/delay settings and sequencing options. For more advanced setups, the ZL2102 supports over 70 PMBus commands and can be easily configured using Intersil’s new PowerNavigator™ GUI. The PowerNavigator GUI enables multiple device design without having to write a single line of code, and its easy-to-use interface with visual sequencing and drag-and-drop placement significantly accelerate design time.

In complex power systems, monitors and sequencers are used to fully control and monitor every power rail to improve reliability. The ZL2102 integrates all of these functions, which allows a designer to monitor and control every aspect of the power supply through a PMBus interface and optimize without making costly hardware changes. The highly functional device can be easily incorporated into the design and replicated across the system.

Leading global suppliers of power products, such as CUI, Inc., have been moving rapidly toward digital power solutions to realize the system benefits. "As power requirements grow increasingly complex for our customers, digital power is becoming a vital and reliable option, saving design time, reducing design risk, and allowing engineers to create efficient and highly intelligent power systems," said Mark Adams, senior vice president of CUI’s Novum Advanced Digital Power Group.

ZL2102 Features
• Integrated 6A FETs reduce solution size and simplify design and layout
• Ability to design and adjust all major functions with external resistors, simplifying design
• Use of industry standard PMBus interface to accurately monitor all telemetric data (output voltage, input voltage, output current and temperature)
• One-wire DDC bus provides sequencing, synchronization and fault management across Intersil devices
• Onboard NVM to store all configuration and setup parameters
• Integrated LDOs allow single supply operation from +12V, simplifying the design


Pricing and Availability
The ZL2102 6A digital synchronous step-down DC/DC regulator is available now in 6 x 6 36-lead QFN packages at $3.10 (USD) each in 1,000-piece units. A demo board, the ZL2102DEMO1Z, is available for a price of $80 (USD) each.

Intersil

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