FROM EDN EUROPE: MOSFET technology allows rapid design of product variants
By Graham Prophet -- EDN, January 8, 2004
The BSP75G, a protected low-side switch, is the first standard part that Zetex has produced using its "IntelliFET" technology. In this configuration, the company combines a power FET with an array of linear circuit elements and components. It fabricates devices in an "uncommitted" form without connecting the array elements, and it forms specific devices by adding the last levels of metal interconnect to the wafers in a mask operation. The array "tile" elements, linear and logic, are sufficiently versatile to allow the design of a diverse set of protection and control functions on a common base wafer. Rather than you, the user, carrying out this programming (the device you receive looks like a conventional standard part), Zetex designs and fabricates the device. The advantage of this approach is that Zetex can efficiently produce a variety of parts from a smaller set of base devices. As a user, you may be able to request a "special," which the company will fabricate at a lower volume level than might otherwise be feasible.
Zetex has noted that few applications are exactly alike; some give preference to protecting the FET switch in case of a fault, and some prioritise the load. Zetex can configure the array to protect against overtemperature, overvoltage, or overcurrent conditions, and the array has logic to handle control functions. Zetex will use the technology to build switches reaching 250V (initially, most switches are for 60V parts for automotive use), and may extend it to 600V off-line switches and, eventually, high-side switches. The first standard part, the BSP75G, is a 60V, 550-mΩ low-side switch with temperature, current, voltage, and ESD protection. It has a preset 175°C limit at which it will shut down and initiate avalanche breakdown prevention. It also offers logic-level control and auto-restart on fault clearance, and it handles 1.6A continuous in an SOT-23 package (Picture).
Zetex, +44 161 622 4444, www.zetex.com.
