First rad-hard 12-Vin PoL regulator suits satellite applications

The industry’s first radiation hardened 12-V input point-of-load (POL) synchronous buck switching regulator operates over an input voltage range from 3.0 to 13.2 V and suits aerospace and satellite power applications. The ISL70003SEH synchronous buck switching regulator is an integrated single-chip power management solution that increases power system efficiency. The switching regulator withstands low-dose rate and high-dose rate ionizing radiation found in harsh environments. It’s 14.7-V absolute maximum rating in the heavy ion environment at a linear energy transfer (LET) of 86 MeV•cm² /mg provides an adequate de-rating margin for 12-V applications.

The switching regulator integrates upper and lower switching MOSFETs and uses a packaging technique that eliminates the need for an external heat sink. It uses voltage mode control architecture with feed-forward, and switches at a selectable frequency of 500 kHz or 300 kHz. The device also integrates a buffer amplifier for use in double data rate power applications, which minimizes the number of discrete components. The regulator achieves the +/- 5% voltage accuracy required by FPGAs, ASICs, microprocessors and microcontrollers in space applications, and achieves a +/- 1% reference voltage variation over line, temperature and radiation.