Enpirion Makes DDR Memory Run on 1.4W Less

Enpirion has announced the completion of the EV1320 VTT 2 Amp source/sink DDR termination converter, which accepts input voltage of 0.95 to 1.8V.

This new converter measures 3 x 3 x 0.55 mm and can make do with a printed circuit board area of just 80 square mm.

Enpirion also made it possible to operate more than one device at the same time, boosting efficiency and cost effectiveness for any applications that rely on large DDR memory capacities.

That includes everything from servers to notebooks, tablets, ultrabooks, solid state drives and embedded computers.

In layman terms, the EV1320 VTT converter allows DDR memory to work with an efficiency of 96 percent, which equates to 1.4 Watt power saving compared to standard LDO (low drop out) regulator-based alternatives.

To put things in perspective, if 10 million servers are deployed in one year, that leads to 110 million Watts of saved energy. Add to that everything else and the estimate rises to 450 million Watts.

“Every generation of electronics products adds new features, functions and compute resources, which in turn drives an increase in DDR memory capacity to the point where the memory termination power is becoming significant,” said Charlie Mera, Enpirion’s vice president of marketing and applications. 

“The EV1320 enables designers to significantly reduce the memory subsystem’s power dissipation without resorting to more expensive, larger switching regulator-based memory termination options.” 

Enpirion is already sampling the product at a price of $0.70 at volumes of 1k units (0.53 Euro).

“Continued focus on innovation in highly integrated power devices combined with improved efficiency will significantly impact every corner of the industry,” said Arnold Alderman, power electronics analyst, Anagensis Inc. 

“The introduction of novel approaches that provide lowest solution cost and smallest size for mainstream applications, such as DDR power, is fueling the rapid adoption of integrated power.”

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