Enpirion’s Newest Converter Offers a Breakthrough Alternative to Traditional DDR Power Solutions

“Continued focus on innovation in highly integrated power devices combined with improved efficiency will significantly impact every corner of the industry,” said Arnold Alderman, power electronics analyst, Anagensis Inc. “The introduction of novel approaches that provide lowest solution cost and smallest size for mainstream applications, such as DDR power, is fueling the rapid adoption of integrated power.”



The EV1320 VTT converter accepts an input voltage of 0.95 to 1.8V. The device is available in a 3 mm x 3 mm x 0.55 mm tall QFN package and requires only 80 mm2 printed circuit board (PCB) area for the total solution. Multiple devices can also be operated in parallel to provide a high-efficiency, cost- and footprint-effective solution for applications that use large complements of DDR memory. For example, the power savings in a typical 2P server is more than 11 Watts. With 10 million new servers deployed annually, this equates to over 110 million Watts of energy savings and associated cooling costs just for server applications – without incurring additional hardware costs. Considering other targeted applications such as PCs, notebooks, tablets and embedded computing could result in 450 million Watts of additional potential power savings.



“Every generation of electronics products adds new features, functions and compute resources, which in turn drives an increase in DDR memory capacity to the point where the memory termination power is becoming significant,” said Mark Cieri, Enpirion’s director, business development and marketing. “The EV1320 enables designers to significantly reduce the memory subsystem’s power dissipation without resorting to more expensive, larger switching regulator-based memory termination options.”



EV1320 is a purpose-built VTT converter solution that complies with JEDEC specifications for supporting DDR2/DDR3/QDR and low-power DDR3/DDR4 VTT applications. The following is a summary of specific challenges faced by designers implementing DDR termination power solutions and how the EV1320 can help them address these challenges:



Reduced Energy Consumption → High Efficiency The EV1320 achieves up to 96 percent peak efficiency.



Increasing Features/Functionality and Memory Capacity → Highest Power Density The market pressure to add more value and functionality to end products compresses available PCB space. The EV1320 and Enpirion’s entirePowerSoC portfolio provides the industry’s highest-density power solutions – greatly minimizing the amount of space needed for power management. The EV1320’s low profile enables mounting on the backside of PCBs, freeing up precious top-side board space.



Higher-Quality End Products → 8x Higher Reliability Enpirion power management solutions achieve 21,800 years mean time between failure (MTBF). Enpirion high-efficiency devices are truly industrial graded and do not require load de-rating at 85 °C ambient temperature. PowerSoCs are specified, simulated, characterized, validated and manufacturing-tested as a complete power system –which, when coupled with tightly controlled IC manufacturing processes and fewer total components, yields unsurpassed reliability.



Time to Market, More Projects Commercialized → Simplified Design Flow The EV1320, like all Enpirion PowerSoCs, requires fewer design steps with significantly less exposure to design cycle iteration vs. discrete switching regulators. Fully validated and proven PCB layout and design files are provided, enabling customers nearly 100 percent first-pass reported success.



Competitive Products, Simplified Supply Chain → Total Solution Cost Reduction The EV1320 provides the performance of a switching regulator at a cost point of an LDO.



Price and Availability

Enpirion’s EV1320 device is sampling now, with volume production by February 2012.