More Power, Better Heat Dissipation, Smaller PCB Area

Sep 18 2017

System engineers strive to increase performance with each successive product generation to maintain competitiveness. A major hurdle in that effort for densely populated boards such as ATCA, µTCA and mezzanine cards is finding PCB area to mount the additional ICs and components (memory, processors, data ports) necessary to increase performance. The PCB area occupied by the onboard DC/DC regulator solution appears to be an easy target, but that approach has its challenges. How can the DC/DC regulator solution support even more output power and voltage rails required by the added ICs, in a smaller PCB area and remain under its maximum internal operating temperature? In this video, we evaluate three options: switching controllers, monolithic regulators, and µModule regulators in terms of component count, area, design effort and thermal performance. The LTM4633 and LTM4634 µModule regulators require the lowest component count, design effort, PCB area and already have thermal concerns addressed by an innovative package design that includes an integrated top side heat sink, creating a low thermal impedance path to the ambient air. The LTM4633 and LTM4634 are triple output step-down µModule regulators in a 15mm × 15mm × 5.01mm BGA package with integrated heat sink. The LTM4633 accepts an input voltage up to 16V with an output voltage range up to 5.5V. The LTM4634 expands the input voltage range up to 28V and output voltage range up to 13.5V. These pin-compatible devices can deliver up to 54W and 70W, respectively, when mounted on a common 4.5cm2 footprint on a dual sided PCB in a 65°C ambient environment with 200LFM airflow. The LTM4633 and LTM4634 reduce PCB area by up to 75% over alternative solutions, giving system engineers more flexibility to stay ahead of the competition.

More Power, Better Heat Dissipation, Smaller PCB Area

Sep 18 2017
System engineers strive to increase performance with each successive product generation to maintain competitiveness. A major hurdle in that effort for densely populated boards such as ATCA, µTCA and mezzanine cards is finding PCB area to mount the additional ICs and components (memory, processors, data ports) necessary to increase performance. The PCB area occupied by the onboard DC/DC regulator solution appears to be an easy target, but that approach has its challenges. How can the DC/DC regulator solution support even more output power and voltage rails required by the added ICs, in a smaller PCB area and remain under its maximum internal operating temperature? In this video, we evaluate three options: switching controllers, monolithic regulators, and µModule regulators in terms of component count, area, design effort and thermal performance. The LTM4633 and LTM4634 µModule regulators require the lowest component count, design effort, PCB area and already have thermal concerns addressed by an innovative package design that includes an integrated top side heat sink, creating a low thermal impedance path to the ambient air. The LTM4633 and LTM4634 are triple output step-down µModule regulators in a 15mm × 15mm × 5.01mm BGA package with integrated heat sink. The LTM4633 accepts an input voltage up to 16V with an output voltage range up to 5.5V. The LTM4634 expands the input voltage range up to 28V and output voltage range up to 13.5V. These pin-compatible devices can deliver up to 54W and 70W, respectively, when mounted on a common 4.5cm2 footprint on a dual sided PCB in a 65°C ambient environment with 200LFM airflow. The LTM4633 and LTM4634 reduce PCB area by up to 75% over alternative solutions, giving system engineers more flexibility to stay ahead of the competition.
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