Dialog Semiconductor Launches Latest PMIC Family for High-Performance Automotive AI SoCs

Dialog Semiconductor plc (DELGA:DLG), a leading provider of battery management, AC/DC power conversion, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and industrial IC solutions, today announced the launch of the new DA914X-A family of extremely efficient, high current, automotive grade, step-down DC-DC (Buck) converters.

The DA914X-A devices offer unprecedented current levels up to 40A, making them a significantly better alternative to power products that require both a power controller and discrete FETs. The DA914X-A series combines power FETs and all required control logic into a highly integrated and efficient single chip. Only a few external components are required to operate, resulting in extremely low system BOM cost and a solution size of less than 170 mm2. The devices in this series are extremely energy efficient, reducing the thermal challenges of supplying high currents to complex automotive SoCs. This makes this product series ideal for powering graphics or AI embedded processors in machine learning and vision applications for the next generation of autonomous vehicles.

The DA914X-A family currently includes two devices. The DA9141-A is a single-channel, four-phase step-down converter that can provide up to 40A of output current. The DA9142-A is a single-channel, two-phase step-down converter that can provide up to 20A of output current. All devices have an input voltage range of 2.8 V to 5.5 V and an output voltage range of 0.3 V to 1.3 V, making them suitable for a wide range of low-power systems.

“As automotive electronics continue to demand higher performance heterogeneous processing, the need for cost-effective and space-efficient power solutions becomes increasingly critical,” said Tom Sandoval, senior vice president and general manager of Dialog Semiconductor’s automotive business unit. “The DA914X-A PMIC family provides automotive customers with a market-leading high-current power solution for multi-core automotive SoCs with embedded high-performance graphics or AI processor cores.”

The DA914X-A products include several key features to meet the needs of today’s complex automotive electronic systems:

• Compared to single-phase architectures, multi-phase operation provides improved transient performance, lower losses, higher efficiency, optimized heat dissipation, and minimal ripple current and voltage;

• Lower PCB cost, smaller components, and lower overall thickness for thin applications;

• Flexibility - inductors and capacitors can be placed close to the load point;

• Distributed power consumption - more even heat distribution - is critical for efficient thermal management;

• Remote sensing ensures the highest accuracy and supports a variety of PCB routing schemes without performance degradation;

• Fully programmable soft-start limits inrush current from the input to provide a slope-controlled output voltage;

• Dynamic Voltage Control (DVC) adaptively adjusts the supply voltage based on the load. This helps improve efficiency when downstream circuits enter low-power or idle modes, thereby saving energy;

• Configurable GPIOs support a range of functions including I2C, DVC and power good indicators.

The DA914X-A devices are AEC-Q100 Grade 1 qualified and are available in a 4.5mm x 7.0mm, 0.6mm pitch, 60-pin FC-BGA package. Industrial/commercial grade versions of the family are also available.