Power-management IC suits advanced microprocessors’ power needs
By Margery Conner, Technical Editor -- EDN, March 21, 2006
Although Freescale tailored the MC34703 Quiccsupply 3, the newest member of the Quiccsupply power-management family, to fit into the PowerQuicc III line of telecomm and networking processors, it’s equally well-suited to other vendors’ processors, according to Freescale Systems and Application Engineer Lonne Mays. “Many of today’s advanced processors have both a core supply and an I/O supply that have requirements for how they track each other as they power up or down,” he says. “With Quiccsupply, you can set the appropriate sequence for that processor.” The device has a synchronous buck regulator for core voltages, providing current as high as 10A and low-dropout controller for power I/O and bus voltages for current as high as 2A.
The device follows the trend of other recently introduced power controllers of combining several circuits onto one MCM (multichip module) but stops short of packing all external components into the device. “We keep the magnetics and other components external to gain flexibility,” says Mays. “For example, if you need 5 rather than 10A, you could substantially shrink the magnetics and power supply.”
The device switches nominally at 300 kHz but is adjustable from 200 to 400 kHz. Input voltages are 2.8 to 13.5V. The unit is available in a 10×10-mm, 33-lead PQFN package and sells for $3.75 (10,000). An evaluation board costs $100.30.
