What is claimed to be the industry’s first radiation hardened 12V input PoL (point-of-load) synchronous buck switching regulator capable of operating over 3 to 13.2V for aerospace and satellite power applications is available from Intersil. The ISL70003SEH improves thermal performance, claims the company, while reducing the number of required external components to streamline design and qualification time. Leveraging proprietary design, process and testing it offers robust reliability and accuracy to support the most demanding PoL voltage tolerance requirements and to withstand low-dose rate and high-dose rate ionizing radiation found in harsh environments. The continued increase in satellite complexity, with more low and high voltage rail requirements and increased computing power demands, means engineers must balance increased system efficiency and improved thermal performance while ensuring fail-proof operation under extreme conditions. Synchronous rectification topology allows for seamless switching between MOSFETs which is claimed to improve efficiency and thermal management, reducing power loss. The voltage mode control architecture with feed-forward switches at a selectable frequency of 500 or 300kHz. Loop compensation can be adjusted externally to balance stability and output dynamic performance. A buffer amplifier is integrated for use in double data rate (DDR) power applications, which minimises the number of discrete components, saving board space, as well as reducing the overall weight of the satellite and system cost. The regulator achieves the stringent ± 5% voltage accuracy required by FPGAs, ASICs, microprocessors and microcontrollers in space applications. It also achieves a ±1% reference voltage variation over line, temperature and radiation. The SET (single event transient) response effectively minimises output voltage variation and increases accuracy, resulting in ±3% SET performance. The 14.7V absolute maximum rating in the heavy ion environment at a linear energy transfer of 86MeV•cm2/mg provides an adequate de-rating margin for 12V applications, which improves system reliability.

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