APEC roundup: Power designers embrace SiC power devices

By Gina Roos, editor-in-chief

The big power trends at this year’s Applied Power Electronics Conference & Exposition (APEC 2019) continue to focus on higher efficiency, improved thermal management, and miniaturization. A common thread among these demands is a need to lower bill of materials costs, which are achieved by reducing the number of external components required in these system designs. The reason for these consistent trends in the power industry is related to market needs. Just about every industry — automotive, industrial, mobile devices, data centers, etc. — is looking for the same improvements in efficiency, reliability, size, and cost.

But with the announcement of several SiC power devices sprinkled throughout the conference, power system designers are also starting to embrace the inherent advantages  of wide-bandgap semiconductors, which can deliver big time on some of these requirements — enhanced efficiency, higher temperature range, smaller size, and improved thermal management, which, in some cases, means eliminating the need for heat sinks altogether.

Here’s our selection of the best products showcased at APEC 2019. These are presented in alphabetical order by manufacturer.

Brightworks Technology Inc.  has announced its new development initiative to design water-resistant AC/DC LED drivers for outdoor, architectural lighting, signage, and horticulture applications. The company unveiled its first product family, the Silverback series, developed under the new initiative, at APEC 2019. The development of the Silverback series of LED drivers is the result of more than a year of market research and industry feedback. The new IP67-rated (withstand up to 1 meter of immersion in water for approximately 30 minutes) product family will initially consist of five basic models and deliver output power ranging from 160 W to 600 W with typical full load efficiency of 93%. Design engineers working on LED fixtures requiring power from 160 W to 600 W can apply to be part of the Silverback beta test initiative. Customer beta testing is scheduled in the second quarter of 2019.

Infineon Technologies AG showcased several new products. The company unveiled a new LED driver IC that combines a quasi-resonant power factor correction (PFC) and a quasi-resonant flyback controller with primary side regulation. The XDPL8221 driver chip features a UART interface to enable digital commands for control functions like dimming without any flicker. It provides dimming to below 1% while still regulating current with a high degree of accuracy. In addition, the built-in digital control can select the best mode of operation, switching between quasi-resonant, discontinuous conduction or active burst modes. The communication interface in the XDPL8221 also facilitates numerically exchanged real-time data for control functions besides digital dimming.

Infineon also added two new devices — the BCR601  and BCR602  — to its BCR linear LED controller IC portfolio . The BCR601 features an innovative voltage feedback to the primary side, which is also known as active headroom control (AHC), addressing cost and power-efficiency requirements, while the BCR602 targets dimmable LED applications such as light engines, modules, and strips. The wide voltage range of up to 60 V makes it suitable for 48-V designs and DC/DC grids. The supply voltage of the LED controller ICs ranges from 8 V to 60 V up to the SELV limit. Both LED controllers operate with an external driver transistor, either an NPN bipolar transistor or an N-channel MOSFET to support a wide LED current and power range, said Infineon. They also feature AC ripple suppression, which prevents light flicker and provides high light quality. Both ICs also offer embedded hot-plug protection.

Infineon expanded its XDP LED controller series with the launch of its integrated XDPL8218 high-power-factor, constant-voltage flyback LED driver IC. Delivering a future-proof design, the XDPL8212 combines a constant voltage quasi-resonant flyback controller with algorithms for high power factor (>0.9) and low total harmonic distortion (THD <15%). There are several reasons why the XDPL8218 is a good choice for the primary side of dual-stage LED designs with a DC/DC stage at the secondary side. These include wide load ranges, a quick and stable response to dynamic load changes, and high efficiency over a wide output range.

Infineon also extended its integrated point-of-load (POL) product family with the introduction of its IR38164 DC/DC POL converter for storage, netcom, telecom, and server designs. The IR38x6x family offers either full SVID compatibility or 3-bit PVID flexibility to support Intel CPU and chipset POL rails in Intel systems. The IR38164, with its integrated SVID, claims the smallest size available in its class, offering a 50% space savings compared to traditional externally powered digital controller solutions. It also touts the lowest R_DS(on) , figure of merit (FOM), and Q_RR attributes in the market, which enables greater than 91% for core rail (0.7 V to 1.2 V) efficiency and higher than 97% for 5-V_OUT efficiency. The IR38164 is capable of high-frequency operations, up to 30 A, thanks to its excellent thermal characteristics, while enhanced packaging and high-performance MOSFETs enable high-current 3.3-V and 5-V output voltage delivery at high ambient temperature with minimum airflow.

Littelfuse, Inc.  has expanded its second generation of 650-V, AEC-Q101−qualified silicon-carbide (SiC) Schottky diodes with new package sizes and current ratings. The LSIC2SD065DxxA Series SiC Schottky diode is available with current ratings of 6 A, 10 A, or 16 A in a TO‑263-2L package, and the LSIC2SD065ExxCCA Series SiC Schottky diode is available with current ratings of 12 A, 16 A, 20 A, or 40 A in a TO-247-3L package. The SiC devices offer power electronics system designers performance advantages over traditional silicon-based devices, including negligible reverse-recovery current, high surge capability, and a maximum operating junction temperature of 175°C, said Littelfuse. They also dissipate less energy and require smaller heat sinks and support a smaller footprint than alternative devices such as silicon bipolar power diodes, added the company. Typical applications include electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, buck/boost stages in DC/DC converters, free-wheeling diodes in inverter stages, high-frequency output rectification, and power factor correction (PFC).

MaxLinear, Inc.  has introduced the new MxL7213  switch-mode DC/DC 13-A or 26-A power module that touts better efficiency and thermal performance compared to competitive products. The MxL7213 dual step-down power module supplies either two 13-A outputs, a single 26 A, or up to 100 A when paralleled with additional MxL7213 modules. The DC/DC power supply includes a wide 4.5-V to 18-V input voltage range and supports two outputs each with an output voltage range of 0.6 V to 5.3 V, set by a single external resistor. The power module integrates the control, drivers, bootstrap diodes, inductors, and MOSFETs in a single package for point-of-load supplies and only requires a few input and output capacitors, which simplifies design.

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has claimed the smallest and most efficient integrated 6-A buck regulator. The module’s footprint is 25% smaller (12 × 9 × 2 mm) than the nearest competitive solution and offers a 30% lower profile, according to the company. The MYMGA1R86RELC2RA DC/DC converter is designed for two-cell, three-cell, and 12-V point-of-load applications. The module integrates all passive components, including bulk output capacitance, to meet exacting transient load requirements, which means no additional external components are required for most applications and a typical solution footprint is about 50% smaller than alternative products. The device offers about a 5× reduction in input ripple, lower conducted and radiated EMI emissions, and a wide temperature range of −40°C to 105°C with derating.

Beefing up its wide-bandgap semiconductor portfolio, ON Semiconductor has launched two new SiC MOSFET devices , the industrial-grade NTHL080N120SC1 and the AEC-Q101 automotive-grade NVHL080N120SC1. These devices can be used in applications such as automotive DC/DC and onboard chargers for electric vehicles, solar, and uninterruptible and server power supplies. The 1,200-V, 80-mΩ SiC MOSFETS offer high power density with highly efficient operation that can reduce operating costs and overall system size due to smaller footprints and cut thermal management requirements. They also offer a maximum operating temperature of 175°C.

Renesas Electronics Corp. launched a pair of encapsulated hybrid digital DC/DC PMBus power modules  — the 10-A ISL8280M and 15-A ISL8282M — claiming the highest power density and up to 95% peak efficiency. The digital power modules are complete single-channel, synchronous step-down regulated power supplies, operating over a 5-V to 16-V input voltage range, and provide a power density of 115 mA/mm² in a 12 × 11-mm package. Target applications include POL conversion in advanced FPGAs, DSPs, ASICs, and memory for servers, storage, optical networking, telecom, and space-constrained industrial applications.

The company also debuted two analog power modules, the ISL8210M and ISL8212M, in pin-to-pin compatible 12 × 11-mm packages with 10 A and 15 A of output current, respectively. Each of the hybrid digital and analog power modules integrates a PWM controller, MOSFETs, and an inductor within a thermally optimized grid high density array (GHDA) encapsulated module. The GHDA module has a single-layer conductive package substrate that efficiently transfers heat from the module to the system board, even in heavy-load conditions, and dissipates heat without the need for airflow or heat sinks.

TDK Corp. launched a new series of µPOL DC/DC converters that combine a compact size and the highest power density for applications such as big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), 5G cells, internet of things (IoT), and computing enterprise. The FS series takes a different approach from traditional side-by-side discrete ICs and discrete inductors by integrating them into a compact solution. They deliver high performance and scalability while minimizing the need for external components and simplifying integration, offering a 50% reduction in solution size.

Designed for ease of design in industrial and automotive power supplies, Texas Instruments Inc.’s new step-down voltage converter combines light-load efficiency with cost efficiency. The 100-V, 1-A LM5164 buck converter integrates high- and low-side power MOSFETs to shrink board space by up to 30% in battery-powered industrial and automotive designs. The chip’s constant on-time (COT) control architecture circumvents external compensation while an internal VCC bias supply and bootstrap diode eliminates the need for an additional capacitor. The synchronous step-down buck regulator measures 5 × 6 mm and is thermally efficient for rugged power supply designs.

The new TPS7A78 AC/DC linear regulator from Texas Instruments Inc. touts 75% higher efficiency and two times the power density compared to other linear regulators. The device delivers a balance between high efficiency and ultra-low noise while shrinking the power supply size and uses a unique switched-capacitor architecture to eliminate up to 26 discrete components, including external inductors and transformers and miniature circuit breakers and interrupters. This smart design leads to higher efficiency and reduced capacitor size compared to linear regulators in traditional capacitor-drop solutions utilizing a Zener diode. It also features low standby power and a tamper-proof design. Target applications: electronic metering and building automation.