Today’s designers are tasked with squeezing more and more circuitry into the footprint of their applications. The reasons are clear: smaller parts use less power, reduce running costs, extend battery life, and permit development of faster and smarter devices with greater functionality.
As a result, increasing power density and decreasing transistor dimensions have become hallmarks of contemporary ICs. Consequently, too, engineers often find themselves searching for a component that will fit in the space they have and stay cool while delivering the power needed for their system.