EL SEGUNDO, Calif. March 2004 - International Rectifier IR® (NYSE:IRF), a world leader in power management technology, announced today that its XPhase™ chip set has won EDN magazine's "Innovation of the Year" Award for 2003. The chip set defines a new, scalable, distributed power architecture for today's most advanced microprocessors used in servers, workstations and networking equipment.

Developed specifically for multiphase interleaved buck DC-DC converters, IR's XPhase chip set consists of the IR3081 Control IC and the IR3086 Phase IC. The chip set provides a high performance solution that exceeds VRM or EVRD 10.x requirements. Unlike other multiphase solutions that are limited in the number of phases they drive, IR's XPhase architecture can support from one to "X" phases, which can be added or removed without changing the fundamental design.

"It's rewarding for us to continue to receive industry confirmation on our XPhase architecture, the chip set, and our focus on fundamental power management issues facing those in the information technology business. Our XPhase chip set tackles a tough challenge confronting board designers, that is to minimize the time, schedule and cost associated with a redesign of a power system each time a new processor is introduced. XPhase solves that problem," said Gene Sheridan, Vice-President, Computing and Communications Business Unit at International Rectifier.

The IR3081 Control IC in the 28-lead MLPQ package contains all one-per-converter circuitry, including voltage identification (VID) pull-up resistors, PWM ramp oscillator, error amplifier, bias voltage, fault detection and other necessary functions. The IR3086 Phase IC in the 20-lead MLPQ package drives and monitors a single phase in a multiphase converter. The IR3086 Phase IC includes all one-per-phase circuitry that includes gate drivers, PWM comparator and latch, over-voltage protection and current sensing and sharing and programmable over-temperature detection.

A patent-pending body braking control feature achieves nearly two times improvement in inductor slew rate, improving transient response time and efficiency. This control technique turns off the synchronous rectifier MOSFET in response to a significant decrease in load current. Besides permitting the use of larger inductor values, body braking also helps to decrease output capacitor requirements, reducing solution cost and size.

Readers of EDN chose the winners across 13 categories from a list of finalists. International Rectifier's award was accepted during EDN's awards ceremony held in San Francisco on March 29. EDN, a premier electronics design magazine, is published by Reed Business Information, headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.

About International Rectifier

International Rectifier (NYSE:IRF) is a world leader in power management technology. IR's analog and mixed signal ICs, advanced circuit devices, integrated power systems and components enable high performance computing and reduce energy waste from motors, the world's single largest consumer of electricity. Leading manufacturers of computers, energy efficient appliances, lighting, automobiles, satellites, aircraft and defense systems rely on IR's power management benchmarks to power their next generation products. For more information, go to www.irf.com.

Trademark Notice

XPhase™ is a trademark of International Rectifier Corporation. IR® and HEXFET® are registered trademarks of International Rectifier Corporation. All other product names noted herein may be trademarks of their respective holders.