Micrel Introduces New Power Management ICs

Micrel Inc. has launched the MIC2810, a flexible power management IC that provides three output voltages and a power on reset in a tiny 3mm x 3mm MLF®-16 package. The solution is well-suited for use in cell phones, smart phones, PDAs, cameras, portable media players, wireless LAN cards and Bluetooth applications. The device is also suited to powering Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs) from a 3.3 or 5V rail in general purpose applications.

The MIC2810 features a wide input range of 2.7 to 5.5V, three voltage outputs and a power-on reset. Output 1 is a high frequency, high efficiency dc-dc switching regulator for up to 600mA while outputs 2 and 3 are low dropout linear regulators. One of the linear regulators can be directly connected to the output of a dc-dc converter or to directly to the main power rail.

The MIC2810 is a uCap design, operating with very small ceramic output capacitors for stability and reducing solution footprint and cost. The dc-dc converter provides virtually no noise in light load mode and just 75uVRMS output noise in LOWQ™ mode. This allows designers to avoid higher noisy light-load modes that have traditionally interfered with sensitive RF circuitry. The solution operates at 2MHz PWM in normal mode, more than 93% efficiency, and only requires a tiny 2.2uF output capacitor and a 2.2uH inductor for stability. The part also integrates a power-on reset (POR) circuit that monitors all three output voltages. Independent enables for the switching and two linear regulators allow for design flexibility. Consisting of one switching dc-dc and two LDOs, Micrel claims that its MIC2810 solution footprint is 25% smaller than the smallest discrete solution currently on the market.

The MIC2810 is currently available in volume and pricing starts at $2.25 for 1K quantity.