CoreHW Announces 5A DCDC IP Availability with Unique Advantages

April 21, 2022 -- A new high-current DCDC IP from CoreHW is now available. It can be successfully used as backbone of power management in a variety of complex digital applications including:

Power Management Units (PMUs)
Supply units in low-voltage microcontrollers
IoT applications requiring up to 5W of power (single-phase mode) or 10W of power (dual-phase mode)

This constant-on-time (COT) buck converter with 5A load current capability consists of smaller IP blocks:

For single-phase operation, one DCDC IP and one Support IP are needed
For dual-phase operation, two DCDC IPs, one Support IP, one current balancer IP and one dual phase delay IP are required.

More than two DCDC IPs can be put to one silicon if desired. Only one Support IP block is needed for up to four DCDC IP blocks. In case of need to use more than four DCDC IPs on same silicon, please contact CoreHW at sales@corehw.com.

The DCDC IP block contains most buck converter parts, including power stage with drivers, bootstrap voltage generator, control logic, reference and error amplifiers, fast comparator, under- and overvoltage detection circuitry, over-current protection, current monitoring, 10-bit DAC for output voltage setting and zero-cross detector.

The Support IP block contains reference voltage and current generators, LDO for internal VDD generation, switchover circuitry, 10-bit telemetry ADC, thermal sensor and thermal monitor circuits and test multiplexer for production testing. The current balancer IP and dual phase delay IP are dedicated analog IP blocks that are only required when dual-phase operation involving two DCDC IP blocks is necessary. When only single-phase operation is wanted, these IP blocks are not needed.

What are the main benefits of CoreHW 5A DCDC IP?

Some of the major features of this IP are as following:

5A output current capability in single-phase mode
Up to 10A output current capability in dual-phase mode
Nominal operating voltage 12V, operable in range from 4.25V to 15V
3.3V digital control levels
Load current step up to 5A/us in single phase and 10A/us in dual-phase mode supported
Both DCM and CCM modes supported
High Accuracy ±2.5% controllable 0.6 V … 1.4 V output voltage with 2.5mV Resolution
Optional: up to 1.8V output voltage
91% Efficiency @50% load
Programmable thermal warning and shutdown temperature
Under- and overvoltage detection circuitry, over-current protection, current monitoring