First application-specific MOSFETs for hotswap with reduced footprint

Update: March 31, 2023

Nexperia has released its first 80V and 100V application-specific mosfets (ASFETs) for hotswap with enhanced safe operating area in a compact 8mm x 8mm LFPAK88 package. These new ASFETs are fully optimised for demanding hotswap and soft-start applications and are qualified to 175C for use in advanced telecom and computing equipment.

By using its decades of expertise in advanced silicon and package development, the company’s PSMN2R3-100SSE (100V, 2.3mOhm N-channel ASFET) is the main addition to the portfolio, providing low RDS(on) and strong linear-mode (safe operating area) performance in a compact 8mm x 8mm footprint, tailored to fulfil the necessities of demanding hotswap applications. The company has also released PSMN1R9-100SSE (80V, 1.9mOhm), an 80V ASFET which responds to the increasing trend for employing 48V power rails in computing servers and other industrial applications where environmental conditions provide for MOSFETs with lower BVDS rating.

ASFETs with enhanced SOA are becoming more popular within hotswap and soft start applications. Their strong linear mode performance is critical to manage in-rush current effectively and reliably when capacitive loads are introduced to the live backplane. Low RDS(on) is also crucial to minimise I2R losses when the ASFET is fully turned on. Despite the lower RDS(on) and compact package size, this third generation of enhanced SOA technology also attains 10% SOA improvement compared to earlier generations in D2PAK packages (33A vs 30A @ 50V @ 1ms).

Another innovation from the company is that the new ASFETs for hotswap have fully characterised SOA at both 25C and 125C. Fully tested, hot SOA curves are supplied in the datasheets, removing the necessity for design engineers to perform thermal de-rating calculations and extending the useful hot SOA performance.

Until now, ASFETs for hotswap and computing applications were limited to far bigger D2PAK packages (16mm x 10mm). LFPAK88 packages are an excellent replacement for D2PAK, offering up to 60% space efficiency. The device has an RDS(on) of just 2.3mOhm, representing at least a 40% reduction on currently available devices. This results not only in industry-leading power density improvements of 58x, LFPAK88 also provides two times higher ID (max) current rating, ultra-low thermal and electrical resistance. This release combines the best features of the company’s advanced silicon and copper clip packaging technologies, incorporating a smaller footprint, lower RDS(on) and enhanced SOA performance. It also supplies a range of 25V, 30V, 80V and 100V ASFETs in a 5mm x 6mm LFPAK56E package, optimised for lower power applications where a smaller PCB footprint is needed.