IR’s IR3640M PWM Control IC Is Ideal For Energy-efficient DC-DC Applications

(Product News, 1 Jul 2009)

International Rectifier has introduced the IR3640M PWM control IC for high performance synchronous DC-DC buck applications including servers, storage, netcom, game consoles and general-purpose DC-DC converters.

The IR3640M is a single phase synchronous buck PWM controller with integrated MOSFET drivers and bootstrap diode. The device's single loop voltage mode architecture simplifies design while delivering precise output voltage regulation and fast transient response.

"The IR3640M is a feature-rich controller that may be paired with IR's DirectFET MOSFETs to deliver a highly flexible, efficient solution and, because of its wide input and output voltage range can be used in a variety of high performance point-of-load applications,” said David Poon, IR's Vice President, Asia Sales.

"Moreover, the IR3640M allows designers who use IR's SupIRBuck integrated voltage regulators for loads lower than 12A to easily solve their current needs in the 12 to 30A range, as the IC employs the same control engine, monitoring and reporting as the newly established SupIRBuck industry standard," he added.

The IR3640M is designed to drive a pair of N-Channel MOSFETs from 250kHz to 1.5MHz switching frequency, providing designers with the flexibility to optimise the solution for best efficiency or smallest footprint. The output voltage can be precisely regulated from as low as 0.7V within a tolerance of +/-1% over temperature, line and load variations.

The device integrates a range of features including programmable soft start, pre-bias start up, voltage tracking, external synchronization, enable input and Power Good output. Fault protection features include thermal shutdown, over-voltage and over-current shutdown and under-voltage lock out. The device is offered lead free and is RoHS compliant.