Establishment of DC/DC converter IC technology capable of direct step-down from 48V to 3.3V
Contributing to the stable operation, high efficiency, miniaturization, and reduction of design load of automobiles and industrial equipment

ROHM Corporation announced that it has secured DC/DC converter IC technology capable of directly stepping down high input voltages, such as 48V, which are in high demand in automobiles and industrial equipment, to low voltages such as 3.3V and 5V.

This technology incorporates a high-voltage MOSFET to achieve a high voltage of 80V, while simultaneously achieving the industry's shortest switching ON time of 20ns through proprietary pulse control technology. Accordingly, it realizes a power supply system capable of stably stepping down from 48V to 3.3V while using a fixed switching frequency of 2MHz.

By significantly improving the step-down ratio, intermediate conversion via secondary power ICs is eliminated, and phase compensation via current mode control is easily realized, greatly contributing to the high efficiency, miniaturization, and reduction of design load in various applications.


▲ Contributes to high efficiency, miniaturization, and reduced design load with the industry's shortest switching ON time.

Recently, as awareness of energy conservation has increased, activities to reduce power conversion losses are being promoted across all sectors. In the automotive sector, hybrid vehicles equipped with 48V power systems that offer higher fuel efficiency improvements and safety compared to conventional 12V power systems are attracting attention. However , there are generally no power ICs with high step-down ratios that can directly step down from 48V to the 3.3V and 5V required to drive automotive MCUs and control systems. Therefore, it was necessary to create an intermediate voltage such as 12V and step down the voltage in two stages.

Meanwhile, high-frequency operation of 2 MHz or higher is also required to prevent interference with the radio band. To realize market demands such as “high input, low output, high-frequency operation,” it is necessary to shorten the switching ON time, but with existing methods, it was difficult to minimize the switching ON time because it is susceptible to noise.


▲ Supports stable voltage drop by realizing the industry's shortest switching ON time.

The results of this technology will be introduced through a technical presentation by an engineer at 'TECHNO-FRONTIER 2016', which will be held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, from April 20 to 22.

A ROHM official stated, "In the future, we aim to develop the BD51180 TL, a product utilizing this technology, for sample shipment in 2016, and at the same time, accelerate the development of high-efficiency, high-performance power supply technology using analog power technology to contribute to energy conservation in society."