IDT intros thermal sensor for DDR3 memory modules to expand cloud computing portfolio

SAN JOSE, USA: Integrated Device Technology Inc. (IDT) introduced a new family of low-power, precision temperature sensors targeted at Double Data Rate 2 and 3 (DDR2 and DDR3) memory modules, Solid State Drives (SSD), and computing motherboards. These new devices complement IDT’s PCI Express, signal integrity, flash memory controller, power management, and timing products to offer a rich set of application optimized enterprise computing solutions.

The digital thermal sensors support both a 3.3V and lower-power 2.5V SM-Bus and I2C interface for improved system power efficiency and compatibility with both existing and emerging serial bus controllers. For further power savings, advanced on-die power management features minimize power consumption during critical modes, such as when mobile or fault-tolerant enterprise systems are operating on battery power.

The new product family includes a stand-alone temperature sensor (TS3000GB2), as well as one with an integrated 256-byte EEPROM array (TSE2002GB2) on a single, monolithic die for non-volatile storage of user information, such as system configuration data for the Serial Presence Detect (SPD) feature of the memory module.

The devices continue IDT’s tradition of industry-leading temperature accuracy by exceeding the requirements set forth by the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) JC42.4 specification for Grade B temperature sensors, providing ±1°C temperature sensing accuracy over the entire temperature range of -20°C to +125°C. In addition, an innovative high-performance analog-to-digital converter (ADC) enables up to 12-bit (0.0625°C) programmable resolution with industry-leading conversion time, dramatically improving precision across the full temperature range.

“Our customers are continually asking for increased system reliability and greater power efficiency, and IDT thermal sensors help us achieve these requirements,” said Arthur Sainio, senior product manager of SMART Modular Technologies. “We are pleased that IDT offers such a comprehensive portfolio of high-performance computing solutions to address the growing demand of the cloud computing market.”

“As the next generation of computing equipment migrates to lower power and lower voltage architectures, IDT continues to lead those transitions with complete solutions for the memory module market,” said Mario Montana, VP and GM, Enterprise Computing Division at IDT. “Our customers trust IDT to be a leader in performance, power and reliability, and our new family of thermal sensors reinforces that trust.”

Both the TS3000GB2 and TSE2002GB2 support SM-Bus and I2C protocols and specifications, including timeout requirements critical for next generation systems, along with input glitch filtering and power-up voltage hysteresis to enhance fault tolerance in any customer system design.

The IDT temperature sensors are currently sampling to qualified customers. They are available in 8-pin DFN and TDFN packages that are RoHS compliant. The TSE2002GB2 and TS3000GB2 are priced at $0.85 and $0.75 each for volumes of 10,000 units, respectively.