Empower integrated regulators achieve the world's fastest power management device transient response

     Empower Semiconductor, a global leader in voltage regulators (IVR), today announced that it has achieved the world's fastest transient response time in an integrated voltage regulator family of power management devices. Empower IVR EP7010 is a 10A regulator that can be adjusted from zero to 10A in a load step within 500ns, with a voltage drop of less than 15mv and without the use of output capacitors.

     Empower Semi's patented digital configurable hardware platform simplifies the designer's adoption of DC/DC converters. With a single footprint, no external components, extensive programmability, and a wide range of current and output configurations, power designers can multiply the EP70xx on almost any design and platform. By having multiple complete power supplies in a single IC package, component variations and procurement, synchronization, and stability issues that are commonly concerned are eliminated or greatly reduced.

     With its revolutionary product platform, the EP70xx, Empower has achieved the full integration of a three-output DC/DC power supply with no external components into a tiny 5mm x 5mm package, compared to leading competitors. Up to 10 times the power density, 3 times the transient period compaction accuracy and 1000 times the dynamic voltage scaling speed are achieved.

     Steve Shultis, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Empower Semiconductor WW, said, "Fast startup times are critical in many applications, and being able to provide the world's fastest transient response times is critical to many customers. With this kind of game-changing speed, improving energy efficiency and performance can have a huge impact. We have achieved incredible results with the EP70XX product family and have now achieved the world's fastest zero-to-10A transient speed within 500ns, and achieved it without any output capacitance. 15mv pressure drop. This combination of density, speed and efficiency enables designers to leverage our products in breakthrough ways and achieve breakthrough levels of system performance."

     System designers take advantage of the strict voltage regulation of the EP70xx by reducing the operating voltage of the system through ultra-fast load transients. The power consumption of the system is proportional to the operating voltage. By narrowing the window required for voltage changes without the need for additional components, Empower's IVR has achieved power savings of 10% or more and corresponding heat dissipation. This brings the double benefit of reduced cooling costs and improved performance.

     Trey Roessig, chief technology officer and senior vice president of Engineering at Empower Semiconductor, said, "The Empower EP70xx series achieves higher bandwidth than the exchange speeds of our competitors. Experienced people in the industry have to play both sides of the timeline when looking at range shots - we're used to working in microseconds, not nanoseconds. At typical load current ramp rates, our system adjusts through events rather than just trying to catch up. This dynamic accuracy, combined with our incredible DVS speeds, gives our customers the confidence to reduce the operating voltage in their systems, providing significant power savings in addition to Empower's reputation for reducing board space."

     The EP70xx series has a peak efficiency of up to 92%, and thanks to its unique architecture, the efficiency curve at 10A output current is almost flat. The device demonstrates dynamic voltage scaling 1,000 times faster than competing products, enabling fast and lossless processor state changes that can save 30% or more processor power.

     The EP70xx series is available in nine devices, with up to three regulators per device. The output power ranges from 2A to 10A, in 5x5mm or 4x4mm packages with an external dimension of 0.75mm, which is 3-5 times thinner than traditional integrated power modules and inductors. The product achieves extremely high density and simplicity, so it can also be co-packaged with a digital IC in the form of a raised bare chip, enabling full integration of power management into the SoC.