Space industry’s first rad-hard and rad-tolerant quad power supply sequencers

Intersil has announced the ISL70321SEH and ISL73321SEH quad power supply sequencers designed to drive POL regulators that power high performance FPGAs and complex, multi-rail power systems. Highly scalable, up to four power supplies can be fully sequenced by a single device or multiple devices can be easily cascaded to sequence an unlimited number of power supplies. Intersil’s power supply sequencers ensure high reliability operation with fault monitoring to boost system health and performance, and they are the industry’s first space-grade sequencers backed by SEE mitigation tests and complete radiation assurance testing. The sequencer is radiation assurance tested to 100krad(Si) at high dose rate and 75krad(Si) at low dose rate, meeting radiation-hardened and radiation-tolerant specs, respectively. The ISL73321SEH is assurance tested to 75krad(Si) at low dose rate for a radiation-tolerant rating. Both sequencers provide an accurate and scalable method to achieve the proper power-up and power-down sequencing of DC-DC converters essential to powering FPGAs, DSPs, RF communications ICs, and high density distributed power systems. They simplify design by using minimal external components, only requiring two resistors per power supply for voltage monitoring, and a single resistor to program the rising and falling delay. “Sequencing and monitoring multiple power systems requires a unique set of capabilities in the harsh spaceflight environment,” said Philip Chesley, Intersil’s vice president of Industrial Analog and Power products. “The new ISL7x321SEH power supply sequencers leverage our six decades of experience designing for high radiation environments, and the latest integration and performance innovations to provide a scalable, highly reliable power-up and power-down sequencing solution that simplifies the customer’s design.”