Intersil Introduces the Industry's Highest-Performance-to-Price-Ratio Single-Chip, Two-Phase CPU DC/DC Buck Controller.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 21, 2003

Two-phase PWM Controller IC Integrates MOSFET Drivers in a

Thermally Enhanced 4 X 4 mm Package to Deliver a 30- to

80-A Power Solution With Higher Performance and Lower Cost

Intersil Corporation (Nasdaq:ISIL), a world leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog solutions, today announced the Endura(TM) ISL6563, a new and advanced high-performance two-phase synchronous-buck PWM controller IC that integrates 2-A MOSFET drivers in a thermally enhanced 4 X 4 mm quad flat no-lead (QFN) package. The ISL6563 is a single-chip, high-current, high-efficiency CPU core controller for Intel(R) VRM9 and VRM10, as well as AMD Athlon(TM), Athlon(TM) XP, Opteron(TM), and Athlon(TM) 64 processor-based motherboards.

"The ISL6563CR is the 'silver bullet' that manufacturers have sought because it provides a compact and low-cost circuit design that is easily transferred across platforms to power both Intel and AMD CPUs, graphics processors and other high-current low-voltage systems," said Cindy Drapcho, Vice President of Intersil's Power Management Products. "With both controller and MOSFET drivers integrated together in a near-chip-scale 4 X 4 mm package and with the use of rDS(ON) current sensing, we have secured significant cost and space savings for our customers. The ISL6563 is applicable to such a variety of power systems that we have customers in the computing, communications, and point-of-load markets designing with it."

The ISL6563-based power solution operates from a 5- or 12-V bus to deliver VID-controlled voltages in a current range up to 80 A. It is ideal for desktop PCs, workstations, servers, and the emerging desknote, or transportable PC market, where high-power desktop CPUs are used in a notebook PC chassis. The ISL6563 addresses 90% of Intel and AMD motherboards that require CPU multiphase power conversion because of its "all-in-one VID" input and on-chip high-current MOSFET drivers. The "all-in-one VID" feature enables hardware designers to interface the ISL6563 with Intel's existing Celeron(R), Pentium(R) 4 and next-generation processors based on the VRM10 specification.

This same PWM controller can be used for the AMD Athlon, Athlon XP, Opteron, and Athlon 64 CPUs, enabling designers to reduce their power IC parts list to a single device for all Intel and AMD computer systems. The ISL6563 results in significant bill-of-materials (BOM) cost savings compared to any other solution in the market today. As a result of intelligent up-integration, one size 0603 resistor is all that is required to program the ISL6563 adaptive voltage positioning, the converter's current limit threshold, and its phase-to-phase current balance. Adaptive voltage positioning, also known as droop voltage, pre-positions the CPU power converter's output voltage higher or lower than its actual VID-programmed setting to minimize voltage excursions during CPU load transients. This eliminates several output capacitors that would otherwise be needed to supply the energy, and hold up the CPU voltage during these load transient events.

The ISL6563 includes an advanced over-voltage protection (OVP) scheme, which continuously monitors the output voltage for over-voltage conditions and forces the lower (synchronous) MOSFET to clamp the rising converter voltage. This feature prevents potentially catastrophic damage to the microprocessor. Further reduction in BOM cost is realized because the ISL6563 includes a digital soft start (SS) and a logic-level ENABLE pin. These features eliminate an external SS capacitor, and an ENABLE level-shifter circuit, commonly used by competitive solutions.

Additionally, because of its 2-A integrated drivers, the ISL6563 can reduce a three-phase CPU core converter solution to only two phases, eliminating the components associated with the third phase: MOSFET driver IC, upper and lower MOSFET, bootstrap diode, and output inductor. The ISL6563 reference design delivers high current and efficiency along with reduced parts count, less board space, faster time-to-market and a lower overall solution cost.

ISL6563 Technical Summary

-- 2 phases with integrated 2-A MOSFET drivers

-- Down-converts from 5- or 12-V bus

-- 30- to 80-A applications

-- 1% voltage accuracy over temperature

-- Fast transient recovery time

-- Cost- and space-saving rDS(ON) current sensing for channel

balance, dynamic voltage positioning, and over-current

protection

-- Improved over-voltage protection

-- All-in-one VID, up to 6-bit DAC, selectable to match Intel or

AMD

-- Resistor programmable droop voltage

-- ISL6563EVAL1 evaluation platform

-- ISL6563CR - 24-pad 4 X 4 mm QFN package for VRM9.X, VRM10.X

and AMD Opteron/Athlon processors

ISL6563 Pricing and Availability

All versions of the ISL6563 are available now. The suggested resale price for each IC in 1000 unit quantities is $1.65 for the ISL6563CR. All are available on tape and reel.

About Intersil

Intersil Corporation is a leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog semiconductors. The company's products address three of the industry's fastest growing markets - flat panel displays, optical storage (CD and DVD recordable) and power management. Intersil products include power management devices for battery management, hot-swap and hot-plug controllers, linear regulators, supervisory ICs, switching DC-DC regulators and power MOSFET drivers; optical storage laser diode drivers; DSL line drivers; video and high performance operational amplifiers; data converters; interface ICs; analog switches and multiplexers; crosspoint switches; voice-over-IP devices; and ICs for military, space and rad-hard applications. For more information about Intersil or to find out how to become a member of our winning team, visit the company's web site and career page at: http://www.intersil.com

This release may include "forward looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. For information identifying economic, political, climatic, currency, regulatory, technological, competitive and some other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward looking statements, see Intersil's Safe Harbor Forward Looking Statement disclaimer found at http://www.intersil.com/legal.asp, as well as Intersil's SEC filings as updated from time to time, found at http://www.sec.gov.

Endura is a trademark of Intersil Americas, Inc.

AMD, AMD Opteron, AMD Athlon and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Intel, Celeron and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation.

All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.