Toshiba has launched the “TCKE8xx series,” its first-ever eFuse ICs, a lineup of six products that support various functions needed for circuit protection in power supply lines. Shipments of two products in the lineup start today.
The most remarkable feature of the eFuse ICs is that they can be used repeatedly. Conventional physical fuses—glass tube fuses and chip fuses—protect power line circuits by physically shutting them down when they are in an over-current state, and are needed to be replaced once broken. eFuse IC products use their own circuitry to shut power lines down when an abnormality occurs, and can be reset and reused.
Another advantage is that eFuse ICs eliminate complex circuit design and a number of components, realizing much simpler circuit designs with fewer components and a smaller area than a protection function secured with discrete parts.
The new TCKE8xx Series realizes highly robust circuit protection by raising over-current detection accuracy to a level beyond that of physical fuses. Since the eFuse ICs also have current clamp and voltage clamp to protect against over-current and over-voltage, they can protect circuits and maintain power supply by clamping voltage and current at specified values, even when excess over-current or over-voltage is applied. Their over-temperature and short-circuit protection functions protect circuits by instantly shutting off in the event of extreme overheating, or unexpected short circuiting.
The combination of these characteristics allow the products to help protect electronic equipment such as servers and laptop PCs, which have been required for to handle increasingly higher withstand voltages and currents in recent years. As Toshiba intends to obtain IEC 62368-1 certification, the international safety standard for high level safety, they will also simplify the certification tests customers’ devices are required to undergo.
The product lineup offers two types of product: an auto-retry type that allows the eFuse to automatically recover the circuit itself, and a latch type that is recovered by an external signal. Customers can select the appropriate eFuse IC product for their requirements and the size of their equipment.
