Efficiently Delivering High-Integrity Power to Critical Loads With Minimal Impact on Board Space

Big data servers, as well as applications such as machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), 5G cells, IoT and enterprise computing, often require powerful ASICs, FPGAs, GPUs, and CPUs that demand high currents at low voltages, and high power density in compact footprints. To ensure overall system power integrity, distributed power management systems are being employed that bring DC-DC power sources right to the point-of-load (POL), i.e., the high-performance processors. There can be many such DC-DC power converters on a single board, so the problem designers face is making these devices as small as possible to save board space. At the same time, they need to meet the performance, latency, thermal, efficiency, and reliability requirements, while also simplifying the design process and keeping costs down.