Helix Semiconductors designed its eMpower line of voltage converters, announced at this year’s IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC 2017), to meet zero-power expectations for voltage conversion efficiency. The latest addition to the line, the HS200 DC/DC converter, exceeds the zero-power goal by 10 times, consuming 0.5 mW in standby mode, according to Helix.
The HS200 uses Helix’s patented MuxCapacitor voltage reduction technology to achieve 97 percent efficiency at 2.6 W and greater than 90 percent efficiency at 15 W. The MuxCapacitor scheme uses a three-stage architecture (see diagram). Each stage divides its input voltage in half, allowing three voltages to be supported simultaneously up to a maximum total load of 15 W.