Primarion Introduces Industry's First Dual-Phase, Programmable Digital Power Conversion and Power Management IC; New Integrated Controller Chip Expands Di-POL(TM) Family of PMBus(TM)-enabled, Point-of-Load Power Solutions.

TORRANCE, Calif. -- Primarion, a mixed-signal semiconductor company that provides digital controllers for power solutions, today announced the addition of the dual-phase PX7520 to the Primarion Di-POL(TM) product family of fully programmable digital power conversion and power management ICs.

Priced competitively with existing analog solutions, the all-digital Primarion PX7520 is a dual-phase power conversion and power management IC for non-isolated DC/DC converters in telecom, datacom, computing and storage markets. This highly configurable digital control IC utilizes PMBus(TM) and on-chip non-volatile memory (NVM) for extensive user-friendly control and real-time system monitoring.

"The largest and fastest-growing portion of the worldwide digital power IC market is expected to be the power conversion and power management area targeted by Primarion with the Di-POL product line," said Jeff Shepard, founder and President of Darnell Group. "Our latest analysis projects that segment will grow from $14 million in sales this year to almost $400 million by 2011 -- a five-year growth rate of 95 percent per year."

The PX7520 utilizes digital technology to implement all control functions, providing the ultimate in adaptable, stable and flexible solutions at an increased output load. By incorporating an industry standard I2C PMBus serial interface for control and monitoring, Primarion enables the power supply designer to quickly optimize designs and monitor real-time system performance.

"The expanding Di-POL product line offers flexibility, adaptability and communication interface in a single-chip power solution possible only with digital technology -- but with the same cost and increased density compared to the closest analog solution," said Deepak Savadatti, vice president of marketing for Primarion. "As the market leader in this space, we created our new dual-phase PX7520 controller to extend the applications for high-performance power management in point-of-load markets while helping to redefine the standard for high-value mainstream power solutions throughout the marketplace."

Configurations for the PX7520 are easily loaded, edited, and saved to NVM over the device's I2C serial interface, using Primarion's graphical user interface (GUI). With configurations stored on the IC, the controller can perform real-time adjustments to the designer's previously configured settings and thereby optimize performance accuracy without the delay of accessing outside memory storage.

With other technologies, many of these configurable functions would typically require an external microcontroller. The extensive flexibility offered by the fully digital control, PMBus interface and user-friendly GUI allows optimization of the 7520's power management performance within an already existing system.

The PX7520 operates on a single +5V supply and has a switching frequency range of 150KHz to 2MHz. Accurate current sharing between phases and with other members of the Di-POL family, including PX7510, enables the flexibility to support any multi-phase operation for increased power requirements.

Additional features of the PX7520 available via all-digital control include:

--Real-time current, temperature and input voltage sense telemetry 

--Extensive fault protection and reporting with user-configurable fault behavior

--Digital control loop and active voltage positioning (AVP)

--Sequencing and margining of the output voltage over the serial interface

--Single-pin accurate current sharing for multi-phase operation

--Configurable PWM generator

--Start-up into pre-biased load

--PMBus-compatible serial interface (library of 60 core PMBus commands)

--Internal voltage and temperature referencing

--Internal oscillator (no external reference required)

The PX7520 provides superior accuracy through internal calibration that measures and corrects system-level current sense error sources upon startup. The programmable current sense temperature compensation allows the designer to tailor the response for the best accuracy over temperature.

Already sampling with top-tier customers, the Primarion PX7520 is now available for general sampling. The PX7520 is available in a RoHS-compliant, 5mm-x-5mm 32-lead Micro Lead Frame (MLF) package.

More information about the PX7520 is available by contacting Primarion at 866-321-7746 or [e-mail] or by visiting the company's Web site at http://www.primarion.com.

About Primarion:

Primarion is a mixed signal integrated circuit company that addresses key inflection points in power conversion and power management driven by the exploding demand for digital content and information. Primarion's Digital Power ICs are positioned to beat traditional analog power ICs in cost per amp, performance and features with advantages that grow with each new processor generation. Headquartered in Torrance near Los Angeles, California (USA), the company also has an Asian regional office in Taipei, Taiwan. Primarion has received venture funding from eminent venture funds and strategic partners such as Accel Partners, Lehman Brothers, APV Technology Partners, and W Capital Partners. Additional information is available online at http://www.primarion.com.

Note to Editors: The 2 in I2C is usually written in superscript.