eFuses (electronic fuses) - STMicroelectronics

eFuses, or electronic fuses, are integrated circuits that can replace larger conventional fuses or other protection devices such as resettable polymeric fuses. Housed in small plastic packages, such as DFN and flip-chip, they integrate a control circuit and a power switch with low on-resistance, connecting the input port to the load.

Applications

Unlike conventional circuit protections, the eFuse offers much faster and accurate intervention, without requiring replacement after actuation. Typical applications for the eFuses are HDD/SSD arrays and servers, industrial and network hot-swap boards, and devices supplied by separate external AC adapters

Small Office Home Office (SOHO) servers / Data Center

Server/data center

Solid State Drive (SSD) or Hard Disk Drive (HDD) arrays

HDD/SSD

Network switch

Industrial controls/alarm

Home appliances

Product types

Our portfolio features best in class devices, including:

eFuses
single
channel

eFuses single channel

Single channel eFuses can be used in a variety of applications, ranging from simple power adapters to complex industrial control systems and high-end enterprise computing/data storage platforms.

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eFuses
dual
channel

eFuses dual channel

ST's dual channel eFuses are designed to satisfy the need for compactness, accuracy and reliability of the consumer, enterprise data storage and computing solutions.

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How does an eFuse work?

When connected in series to the main power rail, an eFuse operates like a standard fuse with the ability of detecting and quickly reacting to overcurrent and overvoltage conditions. When an overload condition occurs, the device limits the output current to a safe value defined by the user. If the anomalous overload condition persists, the device goes into an open state, disconnecting the load from the power supply. The overload current limit can be programmed by means of an external resistor.

An input overvoltage clamp function is available in the majority of ST's eFuses, therefore the load can also be protected against power supply regulation failure leading to input voltage excursion.

At turn-on, during power hot-plug or hot swapping of boards, the eFuse ramps up the output voltage in a linear and controlled way, which prevents a high inrush current flowing from the power source to the load, consequently avoiding power supply overload. This function is very useful in applications where a single power supply serves several loads connected to the same rail, such as HDD arrays and servers. The startup time is adjustable by changing a soft start capacitor.

Among ST's eFuses, certain devices operate in latch-off or auto-retry mode after a fault event. (The fault status is signaled by the eFuse to the system controller by means of a Fault pin.) The former type can be reset by the user via the enable pin. The latter autonomously tries to re-arm after a fault. On STEF01, a fully programmable universal electronic fuse, the mode can be set by the user via the Auto pin.