EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - February 2005 -- International Rectifier, IR® (NYSE: IRF), a world leader in power management technology, today introduced the IR3082 multiphase Control IC for AMD Opteron™ and Athlon64™ processor-powered servers and workstations. The IR3082 broadens IR's XPhase™ family of scalable multiphase ICs and, together with DirectFET® power MOSFETs, delivers an optimized multiphase DC-DC power solution for mid-range and high-end servers, voltage regulator modules (VRMs) and high current telecom applications.

The IR3082 Control IC works with the IR3086A Phase IC to provide a full-featured and flexible way to implement a complete Opteron or Athlon64 power solution. For example, a 12V, four-phase design using one IRF6617 control FET and one IRF6691 synchronous FET per phase provides 86% efficiency for an output of 80A.

Unlike other multiphase solutions which have a fixed number of phases, IR's XPhase architecture enables scalable multiphase designs. The IR3082 uses five-bit voltage programming and only a few external components which simplify general purpose and non-processor-specific multiphase applications.

"The IR3082 fills the need for a high efficiency, flexible multiphase solution for AMD-processors. Customers can migrate existing XPhase designs to fit AMD applications with minimal design effort," said Faisal Ahmad, Marketing Manager for DC-DC Computing Products.

Technical Highlights

Features of the IR3082 include a 5-bit VID with 1.0% overall system accuracy. An adaptive voltage-positioning feature maintains the output voltage tolerance while minimizing output capacitor requirements. A patented body braking circuit can reduce the output capacitance requirement by 25%, further reducing system costs. A 150kHz to 1MHz programmable oscillator gives the designer additional flexibility to optimize for system efficiency and transient response.

For system protection and reliability, the IR3082 features programmable soft-start and hiccup over-current protection. Current sensing is achieved with loss-less inductor current sensing which improves accuracy compared to sensing circuits measuring MOSFET on-resistance. Under-voltage lockout and over-voltage protection circuits ensure reliability of system voltages. A power-good output signal indicates proper operation.

About XPhase™

XPhase is IR's distributed multiphase architecture that consists of control ICs and phase ICs that communicate using a simple five-wire bus scheme. Phases can be added or removed without changing the fundamental design. The five-wire analog bus consists of bias voltage, phase timing, average current, error amplifier output and VID voltage. By eliminating point-to-point wiring between the control and the phase ICs, the five-wire bus shortens interconnections, and reduces parasitic inductance and noise. This simplifies PCB layout and gives a more robust design. More information on XPhase visit our XPhase Website

For more information related to DirectFET MOSFET Packaging Technology visit the DirectFET Home page or the DirectFET Discovery Center

Availability and Pricing

The IR3082 XPhase Control IC is packaged in a thermally-enhanced 5mm x 5mm, 20L MLPQ package. The new IC is available immediately. Pricing is US $1.49 each in 10,000-piece quantities. Prices are subject to change.