Wolfson Microelectronics has announced the introduction of its WM8325 power management subsystem, claiming it is the world’s highest current monolithic power management IC (PMIC).
The part features four programmable DC-DC converters, including one which is capable of delivering up to 2.5A, and eleven LDO regulators, four of which are low-noise for supplying sensitive analog subsystems.
Also incorporated into the WM8325 is an on-chip regulator, which provides power for ‘always-on’ PMIC functions such as register map and the real-time clock, as well as offering autonomous backup battery switchover. A 12-bit auxiliary ADC also supports applications for both internal and external analog sampling, such as voltage detection and temperature measurement.
Wolfson says that its low thermal resistance (24oC/W), lower electrical resistance and improved DC-DC technology delivers over 5% improvement in efficiency (at 1A) when compared with previous generations of PMIC DC-DC converters.
According to Wolfson, the WM8325 is targeted at portable multimedia applications including smartbooks, tablets, e-books, media players and smartphones.
The WM8325 is available for sampling now in an 8x8mm, 0.85mm thick, 81-lead QFN package. The QFN package is designed to improve thermal performance and reduce parasitic components, enabling lower cost four-layer printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing. The package allows large PCB tracks for all high current paths, which improves transient performance.