FPGAs, GPUs and ASICs are used in a wide variety of applications including telecom, datacom, medical, and industrial equipment. These digital devices require several voltage rails to power core, multiple I/Os, auxiliary rails and other supporting circuitry. Managing increasing power rails on highly populated PCB becomes more critical design challenge for system engineers. To address the challenge, the LTM4668A is introduced with four 1.2A switching regulators in a 6.25mm x 6.25mm BGA package. The output voltages can be configured as quad (1.2A, 1.2A, 1.2A, 1.2A), triple (2.4A, 1.2A, 1.2A), dual (2.4A, 2.4A or 1.2A, 3.6A) and single output (4.8A), which gives flexibility to system engineers to rely on one simple and compact μModule regulator for a variety of voltage and load current requirements.
The input voltage range is 2.7V to 17V, which supports industrial standard 3.3V, 5V and 12V bus voltages. The output voltage is set with a single resistor ranging from 0.6V to 5.5V, enabling the device to generate not only low voltage for digital devices but also 2.5V, 3.3V and 5V which are commonly needed in system bus voltages. The switching frequency is 2.25MHz, and it can also be synchronized to an external clock. The synchronization frequency range is 1.5MHz to 3MHz. Outputs 1, 2 and outputs 3, 4 operate out of phase by 180°, minimizing input RMS ripple current and output ripple voltage in parallel operation. The LTM4668A has four operation modes: burst mode, pulse skip mode, forced continuous mode and external synchronization mode.
Market Impact
The significant advantages of the LTM4668A are its small solution size and flexibility of configuration: 1) The solution size is smaller than the competitor’s solution requiring four single output modules. 2) Users can use one part number for a variety voltage and load current requirements, such as quad (1.2A x 4), triple (2.4A + 1.2A + 1.2A), dual (2.4A x 2 or 3.6A + 1.2A) and single output (4.8A).
Target Markets
• Industrial, test and measurement
• Medical
• Communication
• FPGAs, ACISCs, GPUs
The LTM4668 and LTM4668A can be configured as quad, triple, dual or single output.