Primarion Offers Industry's First Dual-Output Digital Synchronous DC/DC Controller
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Primarion Offers Industry's First Dual-Output Digital Synchronous DC/DC Controller

TORRANCE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—April 24, 2007— Primarion, a mixed-signal semiconductor company that designs, manufactures and markets digital power ICs, today announced the addition of the dual-output, dual-phase PX7522 to the Primarion Di-POL(TM) product family of fully programmable digital power conversion and power management ICs.

The PX7522 is a power conversion and power management IC for synchronous DC/DC converters in the telecom, datacom, computing and storage markets. The PX7522 is configured to regulate two independent outputs, or two phases in a single output mode. It supports both DCR and RDSon current sense topologies and a wide output range of 0.5V to 8V. This highly configurable control IC utilizes PMBus(TM) and on-chip non-volatile memory (NVM) for extensive user-friendly control and real-time system monitoring.

"With the introduction of PX7522, Primarion has taken another major step forward towards increasing system-level integration," said Mohan Mankikar, president of Micro-Tech Consultants, a research and consulting firm specializing in the power electronics market. "The PX7522's higher level of flexibility, with its dual-output feature and PMBus compatibility for system communication, will enable OEMs to use this IC in a very cost-effective manner. This is precisely the type of product progression that will accelerate market adoption of digital ICs."

The PX7522's control functions utilize digital technology, providing the ultimate in adaptable, stable and flexible solutions at an increased output load. By incorporating an industry standard I2C PMBus serial interface for control and monitoring, Primarion enables the power supply designer to quickly optimize designs and monitor real-time system performance.

"The PX7522 and the Di-POL product family address two aspects that are becoming increasingly important to OEMs; the first is time to market and the second is simple system-level communications," said Deepak Savadatti, vice president of marketing for Primarion. "A complete system can quickly and easily be built around the PX7522 and other members of the Di-POL product family with a simple graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI enables designers to perform design, analysis and optimization without having to devote time to software programming. We are excited to be able to bring such a complete solution to the market."

Configurations for the PX7522 are easily loaded, edited and saved to NVM over the device's I2C serial interface using Primarion's GUI. With configurations stored on the IC, the controller can perform real-time adjustments to the designer's previously configured settings and thereby optimize performance accuracy, without the delay of accessing outside memory storage.

With other technologies, many of these configurable functions would typically require an external microcontroller. The extensive flexibility offered by the fully digital control, PMBus interface and user-friendly GUI allows optimization of the PX7522's power management performance within an already existing system.

The PX7522 operates on a single +5V supply and has a switching frequency range of 150KHz to 1MHz. Accurate sharing between phases (in a single mode operation) enables the flexibility to support multi-phase operation for increased power requirements. The PX7522 provides superior accuracy through internal calibration that measures and corrects system-level current sense error sources upon startup. The programmable current sense temperature compensation allows the designer to tailor the response for the best accuracy over temperature.

With innovative easy-to-use solutions, offering cost savings and improved system-level performance, Primarion continues to drive the future of digital power management and is proving to be the IC vendor of choice for manufactures in the telecom, datacom, computing, storage and graphics markets.

Summary of Features:

-- "Dual-loop" operation: supports two independent outputs at different voltage levels with single-phase control for each output

-- "Single-loop" operation: supports a single output with one or two phases. Capable of current sharing and frequency sync with other controllers in the family

-- Wide output range: 0.5V to 8V

-- Supports both DCR and RDSon current sense topologies with digital temperature compensations

-- Compatible with both tri-state and non-tri-state FET drivers

-- Real-time current, temperature and input voltage sense telemetry

-- Extensive fault protection and reporting with user-configurable fault behavior

-- Digital control loop and active voltage positioning (AVP)

-- Sequencing, margining and tracking of the output voltage over the serial interface

-- Configurable PWM generator

-- Start-up into pre-biased load

-- PMBus-compatible serial interface (library of 60 core PMBus commands)

-- Internal voltage and temperature referencing

-- Internal oscillator (no external reference required)

Availability

Already sampling with top-tier customers, Primarion's PX7522 is available for general sampling this quarter. The PX7522 is available in a RoHS-compliant, 6mm-x-6mm 40-lead QFN package.

More information about PX7522 is available by contacting Primarion at (866) 321-7746 or by visiting the company's Web site at http://www.primarion.com.

About Primarion:

Primarion is a mixed-signal integrated circuit company that addresses key inflection points in power conversion and power management driven by the exploding demand for digital content and information. Primarion's Digital Power ICs are positioned to beat traditional analog power ICs in cost per amp, performance and features with advantages that grow with each new processor generation. Headquartered in Torrance near Los Angeles, California (USA), the company also has an Asian regional office in Taipei, Taiwan. Primarion has received venture funding from eminent venture funds such as Accel Partners, Lehman Brothers, APV Technology Partners and W Capital Partners. Additional information is available online at http://www.primarion.com.

Contact:

Primarion
Deepak Savadatti, 310-602-5500
Vice President, Marketing
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Media Relations:
Shelton Group for Primarion
Helena Ronner or Richard Membreno
972-239-5119, ext. 142 and ext. 135
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