PowerManagement ICs
Back to Basics: a primer on power management ics
Here's what specs to pay attention to, how to select the right chip for your products, and some new devices that will energize your design, from portables to higher power commercial applications By Vincent Biancomano, contributing editor
With energy prices rising sky-high and no break in sight, saving every last microjoule becomes all that more important. Facing tougher demands from users who need more power and energy but ironically need to use less of both, makers of power- management ICs (PMICs) continue to respond with increasingly creative solutions and some notable new chips to cut waste and printed-circuit-board (PCB) area requirements.
What's the purpose of a PMIC? Beyond the buzzword and
"catch-all" definition that permeates the industry, it's designed to save system energy and power and ultimately boost the system's overall efficiency by coordinating power distribution to various system components in the most efficient way. But the PMIC is a lot more than just a switch for simply shutting down a
20 | April 2011
device or system when you don't need it. Its reach is also expanding and steadily becoming part and parcel of power-with- power management systems.
We also see more system-on-a-chip (SoC) devices for
consumer applications, i.e., highly integrated chips for home entertainment and automotive applications that include audio power stages and display drivers along with the DC/DC power and control circuitry for totally dedicated solutions.
what you want from a pmic
There are six or seven major applications for power- management ICs. They include battery measurement and
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