Spansion is sampling its S6AP412A series of multi-channel DC-to-DC power management ICs (PMICs) and expects to have production volumes available in September starting at $3.60 in volumes of 1,500 units.
The S6AP412A series — an expansion of the Spansion MB39C031 family of DC-to-DC buck-converter, programmable PMICs — supplies three channels of power on a single chip to cutting-edge system-on-chip (SoC) products, memory and peripheral products that make up the core of office automation equipment and network devices with advanced image and voice processing functions.
Systems equipped with the latest SoCs require control of a 3-channel power supply sequence when starting up or disconnecting the power supply. The Spansion S6AP412A uses software to enable flexible and precise power supply sequence control. In addition, by enabling 3-channel power supply within a single chip, the BOM for the power supply block can be reduced and the board surface area can be reduced by approximately 30 percent compared to conventional products.
The new product also uses the common Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) communication interface to enable switching to an optimum voltage according to the SoC operation mode and process conditions while maintaining the output, and is thus able to support both Dynamic Voltage Scaling (DVS) and Advanced Supply Voltage (ASV) technologies. The S6AP412A series also supports reduced power consumption by systems through precision control of the voltage used by cutting-edge SoCs.
“This new PMIC expands our power management portfolio, providing the freedom to design with software, and delivers high performance and a lower power consumption and BOM than previously required to support high-end graphics and voice functions of large-scale systems in office automation systems,” says Spansion’s Tom Sparkman, “the multi-channel power supply eliminates the need for dedicated power supply lines to each component and aids in the trend of miniaturisation in system design.”
The chips support advanced power supply sequence control, and therefore complex power supply startup and disconnect sequences of systems with various part architectures can also be flexibly supported with software.
Easy preparation of startup and disconnect sequence for the power supply line: The latest systems require optimal control of the 3-channel power supply sequence when starting up and disconnecting, and this product can freely and flexibly control various sequences through software control. In addition, a method to step-up and step-down the voltage is adopted for the channel used for peripheral devices, and a stable output can be achieved even with a single cell lithium-ion battery and a 3.3V input.
By adopting this product, systems that require different sequences can be supported while maintaining the same hardware, the need to prepare new hardware when expanding a derived family can be eliminated, additional investments can be reduced, design resources can be effectively utilized, and added value can be easily provided to the user.
Supports DSV and ASV control using an I2C interface: High-performance processing is realized by dynamically controlling the power-supply voltage of the latest SoC that use advanced processes, thereby enabling a reduction in system power consumption.
Other features and specifications include:
1. 0.7 to 1.32V for SoCs (with an electric current supply of up to 4Amps); 1.2 to 1.95V for memory and 2.8~3.5V for peripheral devices with a single chip.
2. Built-in passive components (output voltage setting resistance, phase assurance circuit) reducing the BOM necessary to configure the power-supply block and reducing the surface-mount area by approximately 30 percent.
The Spansion S6AP413A series also is available with dual-system output support: A 2-system voltage output option is also available to enable support of systems equipped with dual SoC (with a maximum of 2-Amps output for each system with a supply voltage range of 0.7 to 1.32V). This series can also supply power with a single chip to systems equipped with two CPUs. In addition, a lineup of preset values for output voltages tailored to the main SoC voltages is available.
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