Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Introduces Industry’s Lowest Quiescent Power Multiphase Vcore Solution for Computing Systems
Alpha and Omega Semiconductor (AOS) announced the release of AOZ71137QI, a 3-rail, 7-phase Vcore power management controller designed for Intel's Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake notebook platforms. Offering the industry's lowest quiescent power, it meets Intel IMVP 8, 9, 9.1, and 9.2 specifications, paired with AOS DrMOS and Smart Power Stage (SPS). The AOZ71137QI reduces BOM costs, enhances design flexibility, and features advanced transient response, real-time telemetry, and multiple protection features. Available in production quantities with a lead time of 12-16 weeks, pricing starts at $2.4 per unit for orders of 1,000 pieces.
- Industry's lowest quiescent power in a multiphase controller.
- Comprehensive power management solution for Intel Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake notebook platforms.
- Reduces BOM costs and design complexity with programmable tuning.
- Advanced transient response and optimal current balance.
- Multiple protection features including UVP, OVP, OCP, and OTP.
- Real-time telemetry for VIN, VOUT, temperature, and output currents.
- Extends battery life by 30 minutes to 1 hour compared to competing solutions.
- Competitive pricing at $2.4 per unit for orders of 1,000 pieces.
- Lead time of 12-16 weeks for production quantities may delay deployment.
- High dependency on Intel's platform specifications, limiting cross-platform flexibility.
Insights
The introduction of the AOZ71137QI by Alpha and Omega Semiconductor represents a significant advancement in Vcore power management systems for Intel's Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake notebook platforms. This technology addresses the important challenge of minimizing quiescent power while ensuring rapid transient response and reliable performance. For those uninitiated, quiescent power refers to the amount of power consumed by a device when it is in a non-operational state, essentially idle. Lowering this power consumption is vital for extending battery life, a key metric for mobile computing devices.
The AOZ71137QI's innovative features include Advanced Transient Modulator (A2TM) control, which provides a variable frequency hysteretic peak current mode control. This feature ensures that the device can rapidly respond to changes in load, which is important for maintaining performance in dynamic computing environments. Additionally, the support for Intel's IMVP8, 9 and 9.1/9.2 specifications makes this controller versatile and future-proof, aligning with upcoming computing requirements.
The controller's flexibility in configuration, facilitated by its multi-phase output capability and programmable tuning, provides designers with significant freedom to optimize their designs. This versatility can potentially lead to lower BOM (Bill of Materials) costs, making it an economically attractive solution for manufacturers.
For retail investors, the technical prowess and market potential of such a product suggest that AOS may see increased adoption of its solutions in high-performance and energy-efficient computing sectors, potentially driving revenue growth in these areas.
From a financial perspective, the launch of the AOZ71137QI is a strategic move for Alpha and Omega Semiconductor as it could strengthen their position in the competitive power management IC market. The pricing strategy—starting at
One key aspect to consider is the lead time of 12-16 weeks, which indicates that AOS is anticipating robust demand and preparing for scaled production. This demonstrates confidence in the product's market potential. Investors should monitor initial adoption rates and customer feedback, as these will be critical indicators of the product’s success and its impact on AOS's revenue streams.
Given the increasing reliance on mobile computing platforms and the push towards energy-efficient solutions, the AOZ71137QI could contribute positively to AOS's financial performance in the medium to long term. If the product meets or exceeds performance expectations, it could lead to expanded market share in the power management sector, thereby driving stock performance.
Analyzing the market landscape, the release of the AOZ71137QI positions Alpha and Omega Semiconductor to capitalize on several growth trends. Firstly, the surge in demand for high-performance, energy-efficient mobile computing solutions is a significant tailwind. Devices requiring such advanced power management solutions are at the forefront of consumer demand, driven by the need for longer battery life and improved performance.
Furthermore, the integration capabilities with Intel's upcoming Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake platforms suggest that AOS is targeting a high-growth segment of the market. The alignment with Intel’s specifications underscores potential endorsements and partnerships, which could enhance credibility and market penetration.
For retail investors, this indicates a strategic alignment with broader industry trends, suggesting that AOS is well-positioned to capitalize on emerging opportunities. The differentiation offered by the lowest quiescent power in the industry and advanced flexibility could serve as key competitive advantages, allowing AOS to capture market share from incumbents and newer entrants.
Paired with a 4+2+1 Intel IMVP Digital Multiphase Controller and AOS Power Stage for Intel Meteor Lake/Arrow Lake notebook platforms provides a complete Vcore power management system solution
Paired with a 4+2+1 Intel IMVP Digital Multiphase Controller and AOS Power Stage for Intel Meteor Lake/Arrow Lake notebook platforms provides a complete Vcore power management system solution (Graphic: Business Wire)
The AOZ71137 digital controller provides three output rails in flexible 4/3/2/1, 2/1, and 1-phase configurations for IA, GT, and SA rails. It is designed with AOS’ Advanced Transient Modulator (A2TM), an advanced variable frequency hysteretic peak current mode control with a proprietary phase current sensing scheme. With the control provided by the A2TM feature, designers are able to implement fast transient response and optimal current balance for both transient and DC load. These benefits also help enhance design flexibility and tunability for engineers, helping them minimize external component counts that reduce BOM costs while streamlining design efforts.
This new AOS Vcore solution offers low quiescent power in all power states to maximize battery life. Its SMBus interface also eases customer or application-specific tuning or configuration, allowing settings to be programmed into the parts register, thereby eliminating the need for manual solder re-work during the development phase. Programmability can be done by an AOS GUI or customized EC into the controller’s built-in RAM. The controller also provides MTP to store register settings once the configuration is finalized.
In addition, the AOZ71137 provides complete protection and warning features, including UVP, OVP, OCP, and OTP. Fault protection behavior can also be easily programmed through SMBus AOS’ Vcore solution offers real-time telemetry information via its SMBus for VIN, VOUT, temperature, output currents, power states, and PSYS / VSYS / IAUX pins reporting through the SMBus.
Pairing with AOS’ full portfolio of DrMOS and Smart Power Stage (SPS), designers can access cost-effective and high-performance core power solutions for today’s demanding computing systems that require advanced features and capabilities for AI-related applications. For these designs, AOS offers its DrMOS in a small QFN5x5 packages that include the AOZ5516/AOZ5517 for gaming and the AOZ5508/AOZ5507 in the QFN3.5x4.5 package for mobile computing. These DrMOS devices allow designers to meet complete Vcore power requirements with best-in-class robustness along with 30V breakdown voltage and UIS testing. In addition, the AOZ71137QI can pair with SPS, such as the AOZ52183QI, AOZ52173QI, and AOZ52153, available in compact QFN4x5 form factors. These devices deliver accurate IMON reporting and ultra-low quiescent current by enabling Sleep Mode that satisfy advanced design requirements.
“The biggest challenge for multiphase Vcore in mobile applications is lowering quiescent power while still providing fast and reliable performance. The AOZ71137 checks all the boxes. It offers a novel control scheme to meet stringent power delivery, minimizes the need for external components with programmable tuning and configuration, and, above all, features the industry’s lowest quiescent power paired with the AOS Smart Power Stage. These capabilities set our Vcore solution worlds apart from what is currently available in the industry. Laptops designed using the AOZ71137 can extend battery life workload run times from 30 minutes to 1 hour longer compared to competing solutions,” said Starry Tsai, Senior Director of Product Marketing for Power IC Product Line at AOS.
Technical Highlights
- AOS Advanced Transient Modulator (A2TM) control scheme: Variable frequency hysteretic peak current mode control ensures fast transient response and Dynamic phase current balance
- Three output rails up to 4 + 2 +1 phases
- SVID Interface to CPU compliant with IMVP8, 9, and 9.1/9.2 specifications, support Fast V-Mode to protect CPU
- Low quiescent current: 3.7 mA at PS0 for 2 + 1 +1 configuration
- Autonomous Phase Management, including Phase shedding and auto DCM to optimize power loss
- FCCM/FCCM2 pins to lower power loss in power-saving mode for notebook applications
- Supports multi-sourced industry-standard DrMOS and SPS power stages
- User-friendly GUI for compensation and configurations with minimal external RC components
- EC programmability for configurations with Built-in MTP and RAM with more than 10x configuration changes
- Acoustic Noise Suppression QFN 6x6-52L package
Pricing and Availability
The AOZ71137QI is immediately available in production quantities with a lead time of 12-16 weeks. The unit price for AOZ71137QI starts at
About AOS
Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Limited, or AOS, is a designer, developer, and global supplier of a broad range of discrete power devices, wide band gap power devices, power management ICs and modules, including a wide portfolio of Power MOSFET, SiC, IGBT, IPM, TVS, HV Gate Drivers, Power IC, and Digital Power products. AOS has developed extensive intellectual property and technical knowledge that encompasses the latest advancements in the power semiconductor industry, which enables us to introduce innovative products to address the increasingly complex power requirements of advanced electronics. AOS differentiates itself by integrating its Discrete and IC semiconductor process technology, product design, and advanced packaging know-how to develop high-performance power management solutions. AOS’ portfolio of products targets high-volume applications, including portable computers, flat-panel TVs, LED lighting, smartphones, battery packs, consumer and industrial motor controls, automotive electronics, and power supplies for TVs, computers, servers, and telecommunications equipment. For more information, please visit www.aosmd.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections of future performance based on ’management’s judgment, beliefs, current trends, and anticipated product performance. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, references to the efficiency and capability of new products and the potential to expand into new markets. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. These factors include but are not limited to, the actual product performance in volume production, the quality and reliability of the product, our ability to achieve design wins, the general business and economic conditions, the state of the semiconductor industry, and other risks as described in the Company’s annual report and other filings with the
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240529663390/en/
Media Contact: Mina Galvan
Tel: 408.789.3233
Email: mina.galvan@aosmd.com
Source: Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Limited
FAQ
What is the AOZ71137QI controller?
What platforms does the AOZ71137QI support?
What are the key features of the AOZ71137QI?
How does the AOZ71137QI enhance battery life?
What is the pricing and availability of the AOZ71137QI?
What protection features does the AOZ71137QI offer?
