USER MANUAL
Motherboard Power Conversion Solutions Using
HIP6020 and HIP6021 Controller ICs
AN9836
Rev.0.00
April 1999
For high performance AGP systems, the HIP6020EVAL1
monitors and controls a standard buck converter to regulate
the 1.5V or 3.3V Universal AGP Card bus voltage
(VCC_VDDQ). While the HIP6021EVAL1 addresses the
lower performance AGP systems with a third integrated
adjustable linear controller to regulate the 1.5V or 3.3V AGP
core voltage.
FROM ATX
SUPPLY
EMT TOOL
VCC_CORE
ADJUSTABLE
SYNCHRONOUS BUCK
CONTROLLER
+
Introduction
The rapidly changing desktop motherboard architecture for
core processor and Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP)
voltages demand innovative power conversion solutions.
The HIP6020 [1] and HIP6021 [2] controllers provide a
bridge over these challenging power concerns. This
document describes the HIP6020EVAL1 and
HIP6021EVAL1 reference designs, features, and usage
guidelines.
+5V
+12V
DAC
VID0
VID1
VID2
VID3
VID4
ADJUSTABLE
STANDARD BUCK
CONTROLLER
ADJUSTABLE
LINEAR
CONTROLLER
+
THIS BLOCK
INCLUDED IN
HIP6020 ONLY
THIS BLOCK
INCLUDED IN
HIP6021 ONLY
J2
SLOT 1
TP
HIP6020/21EVAL1
VCC_VDDQ
+
FIGURE 2. QUICK START EVALUATION CONNECTIONS
+3.3V
ADJUSTABLE
LINEAR
CONTROLLER
+
ADJUSTABLE
LINEAR
CONTROLLER
+
The HIP6020/21 EVAL1 circuit board shows the layout and
traces of the power supply portion of a computer
motherboard. Included on the boards are the ATX input
power connector and a Pentium II, SLOT 1 connector.
Motherboard designers should reference the component
placement and printed circuit routing of the specific circuit
board. Both circuit boards contain jumpers and spare
component placeholders to facilitate detailed evaluation of
the HIP6020 or HIP6021.
VCC_VTT
Quick Start Evaluation
Both evaluation platforms support testing with standard
power supplies or an ATX-style power supply. Simply
connect the ATX supply to J2 connector, see Figure 2, or
connect standard laboratory supplies to the related posts
marked +12VIN, +5VIN, +3.3VIN and GND. No power-up
sequence is required when using standard laboratory power
supplies.
The outputs can be exercised using either resistive loads,
electronic loads, or the Intel Slot 1 EMT tool. Shielded scope
probe test points (TP2, TP5, TP6 and TP8) on the outputs
(VCC_VDDQ, VCC_CORE, VCC_VTT and VCC_MCH)
allow for accurate inspection of the output power quality.
Before proceeding, please consult Table 1 for the evaluation
board’s design envelope characteristics.
VCC_MCH
FIGURE 1. HIP6020/21EVAL1 BLOCK DIAGRAM
Figure 1 presents a simple block diagram of the HIP6020/21
application circuit. The +3.3V, +5V, and +12V power inputs
are provided by an ATX power supply. The HIP6020 [1] and
HIP6021 [2] both monitor and regulate four output voltages.
Both provide a synchronous-rectified buck converter
controller which regulates the microprocessor core voltage
(VCC_CORE) to a level programmed by a 5-bit digital code.
As well as, two adjustable linear controllers which drive
external MOSFETs to supply the 1.5V GTL bus voltage
(VCC_VTT) and 1.8V North/South Bridge core voltage
(VCC_MCH) and/or cache memory. The linear regulators
use the 3.3V from the ATX for their input voltage to minimize
the power dissipated.
AN9836 Rev.0.00
April 1999
Page 1 of 11
Motherboard Power Conversion Solutions
Using HIP6020 and HIP6021 Controller ICs
TABLE 1. HIP6020/21EVAL1 OUTPUT LOAD CAPABILITIES
NOMINAL
VOLTAGE
(V)
2.0
1.5/3.3
1.5/3.3
1.5
1.8
STATIC
TOLERANCE
(,%)
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0
DYNAMIC
TOLERANCE
(,%)
6.5
9.0
9.0
9.0
5.0
NOMINAL
CURRENT
(A)
10
1.0
2.0
1.0
1.0
MAXIMUM
CURRENT
(A)
17.4
3.0
6.0
3.0
3.0
MAXIMUM
CURRENT
STEP (A)
9.5
2.0
4.0
2.0
2.0
MAXIMUM
SLEW RATE
(A/s)
20.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
DESIGN
PLATFORM
(EVAL1)
Both
HIP6021
HIP6020
Both
Both
OUTPUT
VCC_CORE
VCC_VDDQ
VCC_VDDQ
VCC_VTT
VCC_MCH
When using the Intel Slot 1 EMT Tool, note that the core
regulator VID jumpers (JP0-JP4) located on the evaluation
board are in parallel with the ones located on the EMT tool.
Remember to de-populate one set of jumpers completely and
use the other set to dial-in the desired output voltage.
Lossless Output Voltage Droop with Load
The synchronous switching regulator on the
HIP6020/21EVAL1 board implements output voltage droop
functions, where the output voltage sags proportionately with
the output current. Although not necessary for proper circuit
operation, this method takes advantage of the static regulation
limits to improve the dynamic regulation by expanding the
available headroom for transient edge output excursion. In
such practical applications, compared to a non-droop
implementation, this translates to fewer output capacitors or
better regulation for the same type and number of capacitors.
Figure 4 details the output voltage characteristics of a
converter with 3.0% droop compared to a non-droop
implementation.
HIP6020/21EVAL1 Reference Designs
The evaluation board is designed to simultaneously meet all
the applicable criteria outlined in Table 1. The following section
highlights some of the most important features of this system
power solution.
ATX Power Supply Control Interface
JP7 allows control of the ATX power supply. Placing the jumper
in the 1-2 position, connects the PS-ON (output enable) input
of the ATX supply to ground, thus unconditionally enabling the
outputs. Placing the jumper in the 2-3 position enables
automatic control of the ATX. When ATX supply turns on, the
5V stand-by output turns Q6A on to enable the main ATX
outputs. When FAULT/RT pin goes high, Q6B latches on, thus
turning off Q6A and disabling the ATX outputs. Cycling power
off and then back on re-enables the ATX power supply. The
sole purpose of this circuit is to exemplify a possible interface
between the control circuit’s FAULT output and an ATX power
supply.
R17
51K
R15
5.1K
J2
14
PS-ON
JP7
GND
R16
5.1K
2.030V
OUTPUT VOLTAGE
2.000V
1.970V
WITHOUT
DROOP
WITH DROOP
0.5A
OUTPUT CURRENT
17.4A
FAULT/RT
9
ATX
CONNECTOR
5VSB
FIGURE 4. OUTPUT VOLTAGE DROOP AT 2.0V DAC SETTING
CR2
1N4148
3, 5, 7, 13
15, 16, 17
3
2
1
Q6A
Q6B
1/2
RF1K49154
1/2
RF1K49154
FIGURE 3. ATX POWER SUPPLY CONTROL CIRCUIT
In contrast to droop implementation involving a resistive
element placed in the output current path, this method does
not involve the additional power loss introduced by the resistor.
By moving the voltage regulation point ahead of the output
inductor (at the PHASE node), droop becomes equal to the
average voltage drop across the output inductor’s DC
resistance as well as any distributed resistance. To insure
symmetric output voltage excursions in response to load
transients, the output voltage is offset above the nominal level
by half the calculated droop.
AN9836 Rev.0.00
April 1999
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Motherboard Power Conversion Solutions
Using HIP6020 and HIP6021 Controller ICs
Over-Current Protection
The switching regulators within the HIP6020 and HIP6021
employ a lossless current sensing technique based on the
upper MOSFETs r
DS(ON)
. During the ON-time of the upper
MOSFET, its drain-to-source voltage is compared with a user-
adjustable voltage created by an internal current source across
R
OCSET
(i.e., R2, R3 in the HIP6020EVAL1 schematic). When
the MOSFETs drain-to-source voltage exceeds the preset
threshold, the regulator immediately shuts down all outputs
and initiates a soft-start cycle. If the condition persists, the third
shutdown latches the chip off and pulls the FAULT/RT pin high.
Cycling the bias voltage OFF and ON resets the protection
circuitry.
The linear regulator outputs employ a different method of
overcurrent detection. Given the relatively large r
DS(ON)
of the
pass devices, a short-circuit condition usually translates into a
dip in the output voltage. If the output voltage (as sensed at the
feedback pin) dips below approximately 75% of the set point,
this undervoltage is interpreted as an overcurrent event and
the control IC reacts accordingly, shutting down all outputs and
cycling the soft-start.
The internal regulator is protected by an additional internal
output current mirror. Output current exceeding the preset
threshold (see data sheet) generates a similar response. Any
over-current event on any output is reported by the toggle of
the PGOOD output.
supply. Proper operation of this protection feature is
contingent, however, on the 12V bias voltage being sufficiently
high to turn on the lower MOSFET. The circuit has been tested
with several ATX supplies, and they all produced acceptable
bias voltage for the operation of the protection circuitry and the
on-board UltraFET MOSFETs.
Figure 6 depicts the same start-up scenario, this time with the
ATX supply control interface enabled. As seen in the
oscilloscope capture, as soon as power-on reset (POR)
thresholds are detected, the HIP6020/21 detects the
overvoltage condition and reports it on the FAULT/RT pin. In
turn, the control circuit shuts down the ATX supply by
generating a logic high at the PS-ON input, before any
expensive damage can occur.
10
FAULT/RT
0
10
+12VIN
0
2
1
+5VIN
0
2
1
VCC_CORE
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120 140 160
TIME (ms)
Over-Voltage Protection
The microprocessor core regulator (synchronous buck) has a
voltage-tracking over-voltage threshold set at 115% (typically)
of the DAC setting. In the case of an over-voltage event, the
microprocessor core regulator attempts to regulate the output
voltage at the over-voltage threshold. It also reports the
condition through a high output on the FAULT/RT pin.
In addition to the normal over-voltage operation, the
microprocessor core regulator has another very useful
protection feature presented in Figures 5 and 6. In case of a
power-up sequence with a shorted upper MOSFET, the
microprocessor can be destroyed without the protective
circuitry integrated into the HIP6020/21. An independent
functional block acts upon the lower gate driver, regulating the
core voltage to around 1.3V until the controller bias voltage
reaches power-on threshold. At this point normal operation
resumes, core voltage is regulated to 115% of the DAC setting
(2.0V in this case), and fault condition is reported on the
FAULT/RT pin.
Figure 5 exemplifies operation of the evaluation board without
the help of the ATX supply control circuit (Figure 3). Initially the
core voltage is held around 1.3V until the power-on threshold is
reached (15ms till 50ms). Then the output voltage is released
to rise up to 115% of the DAC setting (DAC = 2.0V). FAULT/RT
goes high at this time signaling an over-voltage condition.
About 20ms later the 15A fuse (F1) blows due to the
magnitude of the surge current being drawn from the 5V input
FIGURE 5. START-UP SEQUENCE WITH SHORTED Q1
(ATX CONTROL CIRCUIT BY-PASSED)
10
FAULT/RT
0
5
+12VIN
0
2
1
+5VIN
0
2
1
VCC_CORE
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
TIME (ms)
60
70
80
FIGURE 6. START-UP SEQUENCE WITH SHORTED Q1
(ATX CONTROL CIRCUIT ACTIVE)
AN9836 Rev.0.00
April 1999
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Motherboard Power Conversion Solutions
Using HIP6020 and HIP6021 Controller ICs
Printed Circuit Board
The practical implementation of the circuit is done on a two-
ounce four-layer printed circuit board. The two internal layers
are dedicated for ground and power planes. The layout is
compact and several additional footprints are provided for
increased evaluation flexibility. The component side of the
board contains two embedded serpentine resistors. One in
series with the drain of Q4 and Q5, approximately 220mand
200mrespectively. These resistors is not necessary for the
proper operation of the circuit; their role is simply to share the
power dissipation which otherwise would be dissipated entirely
by Q4 or Q5. Both serpentine resistors can be removed by
shorted them via two separate footprints on the bottom of the
EVAL boards. Contact Intersil for board layout Gerber files.
efficiency, use Figure 7. The core regulator design of the
HIP6020 is identical to that of the HIP6021.
92
VCC_CORE = 2.0V
VCC_VDDQ = 1.5V
CONVERTER EFFICIENCY [%]
90
88
86
84
Power MOSFETs
The power transistors utilized by HIP6020/21EVAL1 belong to
Intersil’ newest line of 30V UltraFET MOSFETs. Featuring
reduced r
DS(ON)
and low t
rr
and Q
rr
, these transistors allow for
elimination of the traditional lower MOSFET anti-parallel
schottky.
82
0
10
20
30
40
50
COMBINED SWITCHING CONVERTERS OUTPUT POWER [W]
FIGURE 8. HIP6021EVAL1 MEASURED CONVERTER
EFFICIENCY
HIP6020/21EVAL1 Performance
Efficiency
Figure 7 displays the efficiency of the HIP6021EVAL1 core
regulator reference design versus load current. Laboratory
measurements were made with a 5V input and 100 linear feet
per minute (LFM) of airflow across the evaluation board. The
linear regulators are neglected since their efficiency is not a
figure of merit for the application circuit.
93
CONVERTER EFFICIENCY (%)
VCC_CORE = 2.0V
Load Transient Response
HIP6020EVAL1 response of the core voltage regulation to a
13.5A output step load transient is shown in Figure 9. An Intel
Slot 1 Test Tool provided the load transient which was larger
than the 9.5A design point. All other outputs are subjected to
the maximum transient loading conditions and nominal output
voltage settings as described in Table 1.
100
50
VCC_CORE
0
VOLTAGE (ms)
50
VCC_VDDQ
0
20
VCC_VTT
0
20
VCC_MCH
0
0
200
800
1200
TIME (s)
1600
2000
91
89
87
85
83
0
4
8
12
16
20
SWITCHING CONVERTER OUTPUT CURRENT (A)
FIGURE 9. HIP6020EVAL1 OUTPUT TRANSIENT RESPONSE
FIGURE 7. HIP6021EVAL1 MEASURED CONVERTER
EFFICIENCY
HIP6020/21EVAL1 Modifications
Input Capacitors Selection
In a DC/DC converter employing an input inductor, the input
RMS current is supplied entirely by the input capacitors. The
number of input capacitors is usually determined by their
maximum RMS current rating. The voltage rating at maximum
ambient temperature of the input capacitors should be at least
1.25 to 1.5 times the maximum input voltage. High frequency
Similarly, Figure 8 displays the efficiency obtained in the
HIP6020EVAL1 reference design. Since this evaluation
platform contains two switching regulators, both switching
regulator outputs were simultaneously loaded and measured.
The efficiency curve in Figure 8 represents a composite result
of the overall circuit efficiency plotted against total converter
output power. For those interested in only the core regulator
AN9836 Rev.0.00
April 1999
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Motherboard Power Conversion Solutions
Using HIP6020 and HIP6021 Controller ICs
decoupling (highly recommended) is implemented through the
use of ceramic capacitors in parallel with the bulk aluminum
capacitor filtering. The switching converter’s input RMS current
is dependent on the input and output voltages as well as the
output current. Figure 10 shows this approximate relationships
for five different levels of current. Based on the linearity of the
relationship, the graph results can be interpolated for additional
levels of output current. For output voltages ranging from 2 to 3
volts, a good approximation of the input RMS current is 1/2 the
output current.
10
APPROXIMATE INPUT RMS CURRENT (A)
I
OUT
= 18A
8
I
OUT
= 16A
I
OUT
= 14A
6
I
OUT
= 12A
I
OUT
= 10A
4
V
IN
= 5V
adding external resistors to the VSEN lines per the following
equations:
R8
V VCC
–
VTT = 1.5V Þ
1 + -------
-
R9
R10
V VCC
–
MCH = 1.8V Þ
1 + ----------
-
R11
Note that the resistor values used should be no more than 5k
in total value. If this is not met, the internal resistor values will
induce some degree of offset in the output voltages.
The HIP6021 gives the user the option to override the internal
resistors and adjust the output voltage based on the chip’s
internal bandgap voltage reference. By grounding the FIX pin
(pin 2), simple resistor value changes allow for outputs as low
as 1.3V or as high as the input voltage. The steady-state DC
output voltages can be set using the following equations:
R9
V VCC
–
VTT = V REF Þ
1 + ----------
-
R10
V
REF
= HIP6021 internal reference voltage (typically 1.267V)
2
R11
V VCC
–
CLK = V REF Þ
1 + ----------
, where
-
R12
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
OUTPUT VOLTAGE (V)
Left open, the FIX pin is pulled high internally and the fixed
1.5V and 1.8V outputs are enabled.
FIGURE 10. SWITCHING CONVERTER RMS INPUT CURRENT
Conclusion
The HIP6020/21EVAL1 board lends itself to a wide variety of
high-power DC-DC microprocessor converter designs. The
built-in flexibility allows the designer to quickly modify for
applications with various requirements, the printed circuit
board being laid out to accommodate the necessary
components for operation at currents up to 19A.
Using the above graph and the capacitor RMS current rating, a
minimum number of input capacitors can be easily determined.
If the time-averaged load is different than the maximum load,
the number of input capacitors may be cautiously scaled down.
Output Voltages
The synchronous buck converter supplying the microprocessor
core voltage is controlled by the internal DAC. Output voltage
can be adjusted by selecting the appropriate VID jumper
combination. For more information please refer to the HIP6020
or HIP6021 data sheet which contains a very comprehensive
table detailing all the VID combinations and the resultant
output voltages. If droop implementation is desired, the no-load
output voltage can be determined from the following equation:
R4 + R5
V VCC
–
CORE = V DAC Þ
1 + ---------------------
-
R7
R5 + R6
V VCC
–
CORE = V DAC Þ
1 + ---------------------
-
R8
References
For Intersil documents available on the web, see
http://www.intersil.com/
[1]
HIP6020 Data Sheet,
Intersil Corporation, FN4683
[2]
HIP6021 Data Sheet,
Intersil Corporation, FN4684
[3] Slot 1 Test Kit, Intel # EUCDSLOTKIT1
HIP6020EVAL1
HIP6021EVAL1
where V
DAC
= DAC-set output voltage target.
The AGP bus voltage is controlled by the SELECT pin. A TTL
low inputs sets the internal resistor dividers for 1.5V output and
a TTL high sets the AGP output to 3.3V. Leaving out JP5 will
allow the internal pullup to hold the SELECT pin at a TTL high.
The HIP6020 linear controller outputs (VCC_VTT and
VCC_MCH) are set by internal resistor dividers to 1.5V and
1.8V respectively. The output levels can be increased by
AN9836 Rev.0.00
April 1999
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