Maxim Creates New Power SoC Product Category
Maxim Integrated Products announced the creation of highly integrated Power System-on-Chip (Power SoC) devices. These new products integrate power management and mixed-signal functions such as digital audio, a high-speed interface, and a touch-screen controller on a single chip to enable high performance, as well as thinner and smaller form factors in smartphones, tablets, and e-readers.
Maxim’s large collection of differentiating IP, proprietary manufacturing process, and technological building blocks has allowed the Company to integrate many high-performance functions into one IC.
"Size is always a major concern for designers," said Chae Lee, Vice President of Handheld Power at Maxim. "Consumers are always expecting lighter and thinner smartphones and tablets. Also, larger batteries are needed because of the use of more power hungry processors, displays, and wireless ICs. These requirements are driving the design of much smaller PCBs to enable the desired form factor for these mobile devices. This is why Maxim has brought together many technologies from across the company and integrated them into our new Power SoC products. By incorporating highly efficient power-management functions, audio codec, touch-screen controller, microcontroller, additional memory, and system clocks into one chip, we can reduce board space by 40%, as well as extend battery life and lower system cost."
Maxim’s mobile Power SoC solutions allow smartphone or tablet designers to minimize the overall component count and increase design flexibility and speed, regardless of which baseband controller or applications processor is used. Additionally, these Power SoC products reduce power consumption, PCB size, and BOM cost, thus enabling lighter and thinner mobile devices that greatly enhance the user’s experience.
