AOS Targets Intel Panther Lake With Low-Quiescent-Power Controllers

Alpha and Omega Semiconductor (AOS) has announced a new family of digital multiphase controllers, designed to deliver Vcore power to Intel's upcoming Panther Lake and Wildcat Lake mobile processors. 

The three controllers—AOZ71049QI, AOZ71149QI, and AOZ71146QI—are engineered to meet Intel's IMVP9.3 power delivery specification and draw as little as 5.9 mA of quiescent current at PS0 in a 3+2+1+1 configuration, a figure AOS says is the lowest in the industry for this class of device.

AOS says it engineered the new four-rail controllers specifically for Intel IMVP9.3 Vcore power delivery.

The controllers are four-rail devices that support Core, Graphics, Auxiliary, and LPCORE voltage domains from a single chip, accepting input voltages from 2.5 V to 24 V and regulating output from 0 V to 1.95 V. AOS says the low quiescent draw can extend notebook battery life by 30 to 60 minutes compared to competing solutions.

A Hybrid Control Architecture

Enabling this is AOS's proprietary Advanced Transient Modulation (A2TM) technology. A2TM uses a variable-frequency hysteretic peak-current mode control scheme with advanced phase-current sensing, a hybrid approach that AOS describes as combining digital flexibility with analog efficiency. Where a purely digital controller relies on firmware-driven loop compensation, A2TM's analog control loop provides inherently faster response to load transients while the digital layer handles configuration, telemetry, and communication with the platform over the SVID interface.

Block diagram of the AOZ71049QI. 

The result is an ultra-fast transient response with tight current balancing across phases, both during transient events and under steady-state DC loads. This is particularly important for modern mobile SoCs that experience frequent, rapid voltage transitions between power states. The controllers handle these transitions while maintaining the low quiescent current that extends battery life during idle and light-load conditions.

All three controllers communicate over a single SVID interface, managing five separate domains and supporting programmable switching frequencies from 300 kHz to 1.8 MHz with 0.5% output-voltage accuracy via differential remote sensing. Multi-time programmable memory with GUI-based configuration eliminates manual solder rework during tuning and reduces bill-of-materials complexity. Built-in acoustic noise suppression addresses audible coil whine under varying loads, a persistent nuisance in thin notebook designs.

Smart Power Stage Completes the Solution

AOS is pairing the new controllers with the AOZ52986QI Smart Power Stage, a compact 3 mm x 4 mm QFN package that integrates driver and MOSFET functions. The SPS supports a 2.7-V to 22-V supply range with a 30-V high-side MOSFET, delivers 45 A of continuous output current with peaks up to 80 A, and can switch at frequencies up to 1.5 MHz.

A symmetrical pinout simplifies PCB layout and reduces parasitic inductance by 5% compared to previous-generation designs, which is critical for maintaining clean voltage transitions at high switching frequencies, particularly in tightly packed notebook board layouts. The higher switching frequency also allows designers to use smaller external inductors and capacitors, reducing the footprint of the power delivery network.

Typical application of the AOZ52986QI. 

The SPS integrates current monitoring at 3.5% accuracy and temperature monitoring at 2% accuracy, providing the controller with the telemetry it needs for autonomous phase shedding, overcurrent protection, and thermal management. Integrated sensing eliminates the need for external current-sense resistors, further simplifying the power stage design.

Wayne Lee, Power IC Product Marketing Director at AOS, said the biggest challenge for SoC power in mobile platforms is balancing performance with power consumption. Lee said the AOZ71049 series provides a novel control scheme that meets Intel's most stringent requirements while delivering what he called the lowest quiescent power in the industry.

Three Controllers for Different Platform Tiers

The three controllers share the same A2TM architecture and IMVP9.3 compliance but target different platform configurations. 

The AOZ71049QI and AOZ71149QI both support up to 4+2+1+2 phase arrangements, with the AOZ71049QI using a 6 mm x 6 mm QFN package optimized for AOS's own SPS devices, while the AOZ71149QI uses a larger 7 mm x 7 mm package and supports both industry-standard DrMOS and SPS power stages. The AOZ71146QI is a lower-phase-count variant, supporting up to 2+1+2+1 configurations in a 6 mm x 6 mm package, with an even lower quiescent current of 5.4 mA, aimed at thinner, lower-power notebook designs.

All three support discrete inductors and two-phase coupled inductors and include Fast V-Mode for rapid voltage transitions during power state changes. The protection suite covers undervoltage, overvoltage, overcurrent, and over-temperature warning via SMBALERT, with the AOZ71049QI adding way-over-current detection.

All images used courtesy of Alpha and Omega Semiconductor.