At the PowerSystems World Power Electronics Technology Exhibition & Conference in Chicago today, Infineon Technologies AG introduced a single-package integrated switch that allows designers of switching power supplies to reduce system costs by as much as 50 percent and dramatically reduce the space required. The new TDA21201 component enables manufacturers to less-expensively build personal computers, notebook computers and other portable and space-constrained electronic devices. Designers of the dc/dc power supplies used to power most electronic products are faced with increasingly complex technical problems, such as supplying higher power with lower voltage, while at the same time the market demands shorter and shorter design cycles. To solve this dilemma, reduce complexity and save time, designers increasingly rely on integrated solutions for the driver and the power stage of the converter. However, such "integrated switch" products typically use specialized and costly packaging to achieve the required electrical performance. Infineon's TDA21201 Integrated Switch devices convert a 12 V input into levels of less than 3.5 V to power the variety of components within personal computers, peripherals and other electronic systems. They are capable of meeting demanding performance requirements using industry-standard, high-volume, low-cost packaging. Priced as much as 50 percent less than competitive integrated power-stage solutions, the TDA21201 devices significantly save board space when compared with the separate driver chip and transistors required with other solutions. This results in very high power density, which is a measure of how much power is provided per area unit of measure. Additional space savings and total bill of materials (BOM) reductions are realized because the TDA21201 does not require the bootstrap circuit necessary with other solutions. This also helps further reduce design effort and provides designers with the greatest degree of flexibility. The Infineon TDA21201 Integrated Switch combines a gate driver and two OptiMOS® power MOSFET (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor) switches in a single industry-standard TO220 package that requires only input and output filters and a PWM (pulse-width modulation) controller to create a complete dc/dc voltage converter for applications in which space is a significant constraint and power dissipation is a concern. The low-cost package types available from Infineon are the surface-mount TO220-7-128 (D2-PAK) and the through-hole TO220-7-3 (straight-lead) and TO220-7-230 (staggered-lead) packages. The D2-PAK package dissipates heat generated by the device directly into the board, while the other two packages allow the heat to be dissipated into the air, an option not available with any competitive device. These heat dissipation capabilities allow better ambient thermal coupling and higher junction temperatures than the custom packages used in competitive devices. Combining the power MOSFETs and the driver circuit in a single package also virtually eliminates stray inductances between the semiconductor components, resulting in lower switching losses and a more compact design. The packaging density of the TDA21201 driver/MOSFET combination enables higher board densities for multi-phase converters, making it feasible to package a three- or four-phase converter in the space usually required for a two-phase design. The TDA21201 is highly efficient in its conversion, achieving efficiencies of over 80 percent at a 200 kHz switching frequency for currents of 20 A. It accomplishes this in large part because of the reduced static and dynamic losses made possible by the proprietary OptiMOS technology used in the MOSFETs. The MOSFETs can handle currents of up to 30 A and have breakdown voltages of 30 V, which allows them to avoid avalanche during turn-off of the HS (high-side) MOSFET. The drive capability of the gate driver allows the TDA21201 to be operated in the frequency range of from 100 kHz to 500 kHz. Over-temperature protection shuts down both MOSFETs when the temperature is above 150ºC. Because the gate driver is thermally well-coupled to the MOSFETs, this function protects both. The TDA21201 Integrated Switch is available now in industry-standard TO220-7-128 D2-PAK, TO220-7-3 straight-lead and TO220-7-230 staggered-lead packages. It is priced at $1.50 in 10,000-piece quantities. Additional information on the TDA21201 family is available at www.infineon.com/dc2dc.

Press Release