Ever more demanding requirements, perhaps most evident from the seamless merging of the power and power management realms, have placed chips and modules on a collision course in terms of methodologies, particularly in the 10- to 50-watt region.

Tougher specs aside, though, what's new is that some recent designs have taken on the appearance of "inverted" development-from the top (power stage) down to the controller. That indicates some innovative solutions coming from companies arguably in a unique position to do it: the power semiconductor people.

Not that chip vs. module at the lower powers is an intended battleground between philosophies. Rather, applications are determining a trend whose road is yet hazy, but now seems to lead more toward chip sets as the next logical step across some very broad sectors in the dc/dc market.

The driving forces continue to be even more focused on design simplicity, efficiency, power density and, just as important, superior transient response. New operating constraints seem to give the edge to superior hybrids (for want of a better word), or intermediate-level architectures lying between the traditional controller/drivers and full modules. These will arrive on the scene in quantity during the next year.

That could mean further development of BCD-like technology and the integration of higher-power stages with an output of greater than 3 to 5 A. Higher integration is almost assured, but so far we don't see bigger MOSFETs on-chip. New development might more likely involve some fresh ideas focused on ultra-optimized matching of building blocks, and so on. Of course, the chips may wind up in a "module" of sorts themselves; it's not clear. But if so, the new module is likely to be a far different animal from the traditional (but still practical) die-and-epoxy package.

It will differ because it will, at least hypothetically, be better suited to the demands of its targeted applications. And that implies the packaging will take on a new, perhaps strange, form as well. The end result could be families of power systems, or good parts thereof, a few centimeters on a side in surface-mount packs.