It seems to be power-supply design last few days, as this is the third blog in row to cover that topic (See the blog on Sonics’ ICE-Grain technology and Microchip’s latest dsPIC controller). The subject du jour is Intersil’s 60 V synchronous buck controller, which potentially eliminates the need for an intermediate power conversion stage in industrial applications.

The ISL8117 can bypass that stage due to its low duty cycle (40 ns minimum on time), which enables the direct step-down conversion from 48 V to a 1 V point-of-load. The bottom line is that designers can reduce system complexity and cost in power supplies for industrial, factory automation, medical, and communications infrastructure applications.

In high voltage applications where a lower output voltage is needed, designers have traditionally relied on modules that increase system cost, or two stage dc-to-dc solutions that increase the size and complexity of the solution. The ISL8117 controller offers an alternative with a low Vout-to-Vin ratio. A valley current-mode modulation with adaptive slope compensation enables stable operation for a wide range of Vin and Vout combinations, with no external compensation required. An adjustable frequency runs up to 2 MHz (from 100 kHz). Two package types are available: 4 mm by 4 mm QFN or 6.4 mm by 5 mm HTSSOP. Eval and demo boards are also available.