Intersil's point-of-load power solution now approved for Xilinx' Spartan-6 and Virtex-6 FPGA multi-gigabit transceiver evaluation kits

The Intersil POL power solution has been designed to support all Multi-Gigabit Transceiver (MGT) power requirements. It has been constructed using the Intersil ISL6442 triple output DC/DC controller, which delivers a high frequency power solution for the Multi-Gigabit Transceivers available on the Spartan-6 and Virtex-6 FPGAs. The evaluation kit also incorporates the Intersil ISL22317 Digitally Controlled Potentiometer (DCP), which can dynamically change the output voltages as required. The ISL22317 was selected because of its high accuracy.

The triple-output ISL6442 is ideal for powering the Xilinx FPGAs. It integrates complete control, monitoring and protection functions for two synchronous buck PWM controllers plus a linear regulator controller. Input voltage ripple and total RMS input current is reduced by synchronized 180 degree out-of-phase operation of the two PWMs.
Customers will soon be able to order this state-of-the-art ISL6442MGTX solution for the MGT transceiver from Intersil.

We are very pleased to be working closely with Xilinx on this advanced, high performance solution, said Peter Oaklander, senior vice president, power management products group at Intersil. Our design teams worked diligently to meet the company's detailed specifications for fast transient response, ripple and compact footprint, among others. We have delivered a solution that has now completed testing with the high-performance Virtex-6 FPGA and low-cost Spartan-6 FPGA silicon foundations for Xilinx targeted design platforms.

Intersil's design and engineering teams met a very rigorous set of specifications that we provided them for this project, said Xilinx Sr. Director, Platform Solutions and Services Marketing Tim Erjavec. The integrated transceivers in our Xilinx FPGAs are highly valued by our customers and powering them accurately is a critical piece of any design that relies on them.