Intersil Unveils New Power Management IC to Provide Battery Authentication

Intersil Corp. introduced the ISL9206, a cost-effective fixed-secret hash engine based on Intersil's second generation FlexiHash+™ technology. The device provides a fast and flexible authentication process, and multi-pass authentication can be used to provide the highest possible security level.

Authentication is achieved through a challenge-response scheme that does not require a fixed challenge and therefore eliminates situations where eavesdropping on the communication bus could reveal the secrets. The unique secret is never communicated between the host and the device being authenticated.

"A counterfeit prevention solution utilizing the ISL9206 offers safety and revenue protection at the lowest cost and power," said Andrew Rhind, Vice President and General Manager for Intersil's Consumer Power Products Group. "This device is suitable for protection against unapproved third-party products for a wide variety of low-cost applications."

Intersil's ISL9206 is well-suited for use in systems such as mobile phones, printer cartridges, power tools, and medical devices that require active authentication to protect consumers against fraud and to protect intellectual property. Mobile phones utilizing Lithium-based batteries are particularly vulnerable to counterfeit batteries and the ISL9206 will help to identify counterfeit batteries so the system can take appropriate action.

The ISL9206 is available now in a 5-lead SOT-23 or a 6-lead 2x3 TDFN package and is priced at $0.40 in 1,000-unit quantities.