STMicroelectronics ST-ONE series USD PD controller power increased to 140W

April 12, 2023, China - STMicroelectronics launched the industry's first integrated digital controller chip ST-ONEHP to pass USB-IF's USB Power Delivery Extended Power Range (USB PD 3.1 EPR) specification certification.

As the third controller in the ST-ONE series, ST-ONEHP has an output voltage of 28V, which can simplify the development and design of chargers and power adapters with a maximum rated power of 140W. The converter uses the ST-ONE architecture, a non-complementary active-clamped flyback zero-voltage switching (ZVS) topology that ensures applications with excellent energy efficiency at high power outputs and high switching frequencies. The chip integrates basic functions such as secondary rectifier and USB PD communication interface, saving material costs, PCB size and layout complexity. Built-in synchronous rectifiers help maximize energy efficiency, and reinforced galvanic isolation circuitry allows designers to develop a solution that is both compact and safe.

Inside ST-ONEHP, the Arm® Cortex®-M0+ microcontroller is responsible for overall control . The microcontroller comes preloaded with certified USB PD firmware, simplifying the approval process for end products to qualify for the USB logo. The microcontroller has 64KByte of flash memory that can store custom power conversion firmware.

ST-ONEHP is ideally suited for use with STMicroelectronics' MasterGaN chips that integrate the company's third-generation gallium nitride (GaN) power transistors and optimized gate drivers in a single package. Compared with traditional silicon transistors, this SiP solution reduces the difficulty of sampling GaN technology in energy-saving applications, with advantages such as superior thermal performance and switching energy efficiency.

Complementing the advantages of ST-ONE converters, MasterGaN helps maximize performance and switching frequency, allowing the use of smaller passive components. By integrating the ST-ONEHP controller and the 9mm x 9mm MasterGaN1 half-bridge power stage, ST has produced an EVLONE 140W charger reference design that is smaller than the standard 65W laptop charger.

The volume of the charger reference design is 90cm3, which is equivalent to the industry's advanced power density of 25W/in3, and the peak energy efficiency exceeds 94%. From an environmental perspective, this charger uses only one-quarter of the plastic used by ordinary chargers, and its energy efficiency is 2% higher than ordinary chargers. If all chargers produced globally used these products, carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 3.5 million tons.

Samples of ST-ONEHP in SSOP36 leaded package have been delivered to some customers.