Small polyphase 35 A to 240 A controller with integrated MOSFET drivers

8 May 2002 Power Electronics / Power Management

Linear Technology has introduced the LTC3729, a PolyPhase DC/DC step-down controller with integrated MOSFET drivers in a new and smaller 5 x 5 mm Quad Flat No-lead (QFN) package. The LTC3729 is a scalable (modular) DC/DC step-down controller that allows multiple LTC3729s to operate as one power supply in 4, 6, 8 and up to 12 phases capable of delivering load currents as high as 240 A. Each LTC3729 can deliver 35-40 A of load current.

PolyPhase operation minimises the input and output capacitor requirements by reducing the input and output ripple currents. In addition to a smaller package and minimal capacitor requirements, at 550 kHz operating frequency, the LTC3729 uses half the inductance value of similar 200 kHz DC/DC controllers. The device's input voltage range is from 4-36 V with output voltage adjustable from 0,8-5 V. Applications include high power, high efficiency, compact power supply designs for servers, industrial systems and network processor boards.

The LTC3729 integrates both the controller section of the power supply and MOSFET drivers. It drives N-channel external power MOSFETs stages in a phase-lockable fixed frequency architecture. The PolyPhase controller drives its two output stages out of phase at frequencies up to 550 kHz (1,1 MHz effective frequency) with two phases to minimize the RMS ripple currents in both input and output capacitors. The effective frequency for a 4-phase operation is 2,2 MHz and a 12-phase is 6,6 MHz.

Memec SA

021 674 4103

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