Linear Technology offers simple solution
The LTC3730, designed to power Intel’s Pentium 4 IMVP-III mobile processors, is a three-phase synchronous step-down switching controller with integrated MOSFET drivers. Its size, 5.3mm wide 36-lead SSOP, makes it the industry’s smallest.
The LTC3730 is a single-IC solution capable of delivering up to 60A to the microprocessor core and the precision + or –5% output current matching simplifies thermal management of the power supply by spreading heat evenly among its three output stages.
Competing solutions that incorporate MOSFET or inductor sensing introduce as much as 35 percent error in power dissipation between the output stages – resulting in an unbalanced power handling and overheating.
The LTC3730 incorporates a patented technique called Stage Shedding to optimize battery life at light loads and eliminate gate charging and switching losses.
