Murata Announces World's Smallest, Most Efficient, Fully Integrated 6A Buck Regulator

ANAHEIM, Calif., March 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) – Booth #1247 – Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. today announces the world's smallest, most efficient, fully integrated 6A buck regulator. The module's footprint is 25 percent less than the nearest competitive solution and has a 30 percent lower profile.

Background of Development
In the $10+ billion power semiconductor market, success is measured by the size and efficiency of power conversion devices. In nearly every market application—from automotive, to industrial, to data centers, to IoT, to mobile computing and smartphones—there is a constant quest for smaller, lighter and more energy-efficient devices. Typically, power conversion can take up 10 to 20 percent of circuit board space and represents about 10 to 20 percent of system power loss. Power conversion normally requires bulky components such as inductors that require significant circuit board space, which may dictate the overall height or "thinness" of a platform.

In April 2017, Murata's semiconductor division, pSemi, acquired MIT spin-out Arctic Sand—a company that has developed a unique two-stage power conversion architecture that enables much higher efficiencies and dramatically reduces the size of passive components required, enabling a significant reduction in solution size. Through the application of this technology and by leveraging Murata's packaging and module capabilities, Murata can manufacture highly integrated and efficient solutions.

"Murata is bringing to market a new family of highly integrated DC-DC converters that set new standards for efficiency, size and performance," says Jim Cable, CEO at pSemi and global R&D director at Murata. "This development is a collaborative effort fueled by Murata's long-standing and acquired strengths in power conversion architecture, power module development, advanced 3D integrated packaging and passive components."

Product Features
Featuring an input voltage range of 5.5V–14.4V and a programmable output of 0.7V–1.8V at up to 6 amps, the MYMGA1R86RELC2RA DC-DC converter is designed for 2-cell, 3-cell and 12V point-of-load applications where high efficiency, low profile and small solution size are essential. The module integrates all passive components, including bulk output capacitance, to meet exacting transient load requirements. As such, no additional external components are required for most applications. 

With dimensions of 12 mm x 9 mm x 2 mm (L × W × T), the module footprint is 25 percent less than the nearest competitive solution and has a 30 percent lower profile. Furthermore, this buck regulator does not need any additional external components to meet stringent transient requirements, and so the typical solution footprint is approximately 50 percent of any alternative product.

In addition, peak efficiency exceeds 90 percent for 12V input to 1.8V output, which is more than 5 percent higher than competing products.   

Other benefits resulting from this unique power architecture include an approximate 5X reduction in input ripple, lower conducted and radiated EMI emissions and a wide temperature range of -40 to +105 degrees Celsius with derating. 

Target markets and applications include telecoms, base stations, networking switches, routers and micro-servers, SSDs, PCIE add-in cards and high- performance mobile computing platforms.

The product will be sampling in August and mass production is scheduled for later in 2019. Sample pricing will be $10.

Murata in Brief

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of ceramic-based passive electronic components & solutions, communication modules and power supply modules. Murata is committed to the development of advanced electronic materials and leading edge, multi-functional, high-density modules. The company has employees and manufacturing facilities throughout the world. For more information, visit Murata's website at www.murata.com.

SOURCE Murata