Buck Converters Feature Company’s Smallest-To-Date Footprint

GE announced its new 60.8-square-millimeter (mm) Femto DLynx IITM voltage regulators. The FKX003 and FKX006 DLynx II buck converters offer GE’s smallest PoL footprint to date and are available in either 3-ampere (A) or 6-A modules. With the addition of the two new converters, GE’s DLynx II product family can now be used to power customer applications with loads from 3 A to 170 A.

GE’s easy-to-use, high-efficiency, fully integrated PoL power modules convert 5-volt or 12-volt bus voltages to lower voltages of 0.6-5.5 volts, as required by the load. The 6.76 mm by 9 mm DLynx II PoL modules provide the same benefits as GE’s previous analog, low-current DLynx™ 3-A and 6-A DC-DC, non-isolated converters, but in a 58 percent smaller package (61 mm2 instead of 144 mm2) and while offering 2.4 times the current density — all without compromising the reliability and performance of the Lynx™/TLynx™/DLynx series.

“As power supply customers continue to look for higher-efficiency switching voltage regulators to help minimize current consumption, factors such as speed, reduced risk and ease of use have become critical — especially in today’s competitive power landscape,” said Vesa Jokitulppo, senior product manager, GE’s Industrial Solutions. “Many other solutions available in the market require additional external elements such as inductors, more output capacitance or components required to supply an external bias voltage. GE’s new Femto DLynx II buck converters are complete, fully electrically characterized, easy-to-use PoL modules. Their small footprint helps save scarce board space for value-added features, and using fully characterized and agency-tested modules enables faster time to market and lower application development risk.”

FKX006 is one of the smallest complete buck converter modules at only 10 A per square centimeter. With the same footprint, the FKX003 provides design flexibility allowing designers to provide 3 A or 6 A. The converters also have wide input and output voltage ranges — 4.5-14.4 volts and 0.6-5.5 volts respectively — and high efficiencies of up to 93.5 percent. The FKX003 and FKX006 support patented Tunable Loop™, which provides superior transient performance while minimizing required output capacitors.

“By providing both 3-A and 6-A modules in the same footprint, GE allows easy migration between the two power levels as the customer’s board is developed,” added Jokitulppo. “With component placement on both sides of the module board, these voltage regulators use minimal board space compared to designs that place power components directly on the main board. In addition, the IPC9592 qualification ensures high reliability in all applications, and a detailed datasheet and other available design tools make designing with the parts fast and easy.”

FKX buck converters can be used to power any component with an operating voltage of 0.6–5.5 volts. Their new, small footprint will be particularly attractive to applications that are limited in board space or where low-risk design is required. Some typical applications include:

Industrial portable and handheld devices (e.g. barcode readers).
Industrial automation.
Test and measurement.
Telecom and wireless infrastructure equipment.
Wireless base stations.
Enterprise switching and storage applications.
Servers and storage.
Routers and switches.
Adapter cards, PCI Express cards and PCI cards.
Embedded computing, high-performance computing and supercomputers.
FPGA, ASIC, DSP and SoC power.
All space-constrained applications that require high power density.

GE’s new FKX003 and FKX006 Femto DLynx II converters are now available, with pricing beginning at $3 and $6, respectively, at original equipment manufacturer quantities. To learn more about GE’s latest solutions, including the new Femto buck converters, visit GE’s website.