The two-rail, six-phase controller by Alpha and Omega Semiconductor (AOS) is intended for notebook Vcore power delivery. It is designed to meet Intel IMVP 8, 9, 9.1, and 9.2 specifications. Combined with AOS’s benchmark DrMOS power stages, the controller can be used in Intel Alder Lake and Raptor Lake notebooks.

For example, the AOZ71026QI has a low quiescent current of 3.42mA at PS0 for 3 2 configuration Alder Lake-P (ADL-P) 28W SKU and FCCM/FCCM2 pins to lower power loss in power saving mode for notebook applications. It also supports multi-sourced industry-standard DrMOS or driver MOSFET power stages, adds AOS.

The company’s Hybrid Digital approach is claimed to offer the flexibility and tunability of digital with the low quiescent power of an analogue design to enable low quiescent power consumption in all power states as defined by the Intel IMVP 9.1 platform specification to maximise battery life. At the same time, customer or application-specific tuning or configuration settings can be programmed into the parts register settings via an SMBus digital interface to minimise system components and eliminate manual solder re-work during the development phase, said the company.

Programmability can be done either by AOS GUI (graphic user interface) or customised ECS (event capture system) into the controller’s RAM. The controller also provides media transfer protocol (MTP) to store register settings once the configuration is finalised.

The AOZ71026 provides two output rails in flexible four / three / two / one and four / three / two / one and two / one phase configurations. An SVID interface supports three separate System V Interface Definition (SVID) domains: up to four phases for the core voltage domain (IA) and two for the graphics voltage domain (GT), as well as the PSYS domain’s reporting functions. It also has an AOS Advanced Transient Modulation (A2TM) which combines an advanced variable frequency hysteretic peak current mode control with a proprietary phase current sensing scheme for fast transient response and optimal current balance for both transient and DC loads. The control loop enhances light-load efficiency by seamlessly entering DCM mode.

There is under-voltage, over-voltage, over-current and over-temperature protection. Fault protection behaviour can be programmed through the SMBus. AOZ71026QI also offers real-time telemetry information via the SMBus for Vin, Vout, temperature, output currents, power states, as well as PSYS / VSYS / IAUX pins reporting via SMBus.

The AOZ71026QI is immediately available in production quantities with a lead-time of 12 to 16 weeks.