The power management chip is responsible for the transformation, distribution, detection and other power management functions of electric energy in the electronic equipment system. It is mainly responsible for identifying the CPU power supply amplitude, generating the corresponding short-range waves, and promoting the power output of the subsequent circuit.
Power management chips are primarily responsible for converting source voltages and currents into circuits that can be used by loads such as microprocessors, sensors, and more.
The working principle of the power management chip:
The power management chip supports two/three/four-phase power supply, supports VRM9.0 specification, the voltage output range is 1.1V-1.85V, and the output can be adjusted at intervals of 0.025V. The switching frequency is up to 80KHz, with large power supply, small ripple, Small internal resistance and other characteristics, can precisely adjust the CPU power supply voltage.
All electronic devices have power, but different systems have different power requirements. In order to exert the best performance of the electronic system, it is necessary to choose the most suitable power management method.
First of all, the core of an electronic device is a semiconductor chip, and in order to improve the density of the circuit, the feature size of the chip always tends to decrease, and the electric field strength increases linearly with the decrease of the distance. If the power supply voltage is still the original 5V, the resulting The electric field strength is enough to break down the chip. Therefore, in this way, the requirements of the electronic system on the power supply voltage have changed, that is, a different step-down power supply is required. In order to maintain high efficiency while reducing the voltage, a step-down switching power supply is generally used.
At the same time, many electronic systems also require a power supply higher than the power supply voltage. For example, in battery-powered equipment, the backlight power supply for driving liquid crystal displays, ordinary white LED drivers, etc., all need to boost the system power supply, which requires the use of booster Pressure type switching power supply.
The main functions of the power management IC:
The main function of the PMIC is to control the flow and direction of electricity to meet the needs of the main system. In multiple power sources (for example, external true current power supply, battery, USB power supply, etc.), select and distribute power to each part of the main system for use, such as boosting multiple power supplies with different voltages, and loading the internal battery to charge. Because most of the systems used are powered by batteries, they use designs with high conversion efficiency to reduce power loss.
The functions of the PMIC include: DC-DC converter, low dropout voltage regulator, battery charger, power supply selection, dynamic voltage regulation, control of each power supply on/off sequence, each power supply voltage detection, temperature detection, and other functions.
Because of the need to coordinate with the host system, the signal interface that needs to communicate with the host system generally uses a serial interface such as I²C or SPI. Some PMICs with simple functions will directly connect to the GPIO of the MCU with independent signals.
Some PMICs can be connected as a backup power supply to supply a real-time clock, and some have simple power status indications, such as using LEDs to display battery charge and discharge status. Some PMICs are designed for a specific series of MCUs, and the company that develops the corresponding MCUs will have ready-made firmware to support the work of the PMIC.
Product types of power management chips:
The scope of power management is relatively broad, including power conversion (DC-DC, AC-DC, and DC-AC), power distribution and detection, and systems that combine power conversion and power management.
Correspondingly, the classification of power management chips also includes these aspects, such as linear power chips, voltage reference chips, switching power supply chips, LCD driver chips, LED driver chips, voltage detection chips, battery charge management chips, and gate drivers. , load switch, wide bandgap switch, etc.
AD/DC modulation IC including low voltage control circuit and high voltage switching transistor
DC/DC modulation ICs including boost/buck regulators and charge pumps
Power factor control PFC pre-modulation IC to improve power input circuit with power factor correction function
Pulse regulation or pulse regulation PWM/PFM control IC, which is a pulse frequency regulation and pulse width regulation controller for driving external switches
Linear modulation IC (such as linear low dropout regulator LDO, etc.), including positive and negative regulators and low dropout LDO modulation tubes
Battery charging and management ICs, including battery charging, protection, and fuel gauge ICs, and smart battery ICs for battery data communication
Hot-plug board control IC (removes the effect of plugging or unplugging another interface from the working system)
Switch function IC for MOSFET or IGBT.
The main application areas of power management ICs:
The power management chip is the power supply hub and link of all electronic products and equipment, and its importance makes it the largest segment of analog integrated circuits. Several important application areas of power management chips include:
1. Automotive electronics:
Automotive electronics is a general term for vehicle body automotive electronic control devices and on-board automotive electronic control devices, and is one of the important application fields of power management chips. With the increasing degree of automotive electronics, more and more electronic products are carried in the car, which increases the power, power and other energy consumption of the car.
Therefore, automobiles have increasingly strict requirements on computer power consumption, and the electronic products they carry all require power modules that are high-efficiency, small in size, and can output large currents at high voltages.
2. Industrial control:
The full name of industrial control is industrial automation control, which refers to the use of computer software, microelectronics, electronic and electrical technologies to make production more automated, efficient, and precise, with controllability and visibility. In order to achieve the above effects, industrial control equipment needs to have a variety of functional modules such as stable power systems, sensitive sensors, and efficient information transmission. The stable operation of the above-mentioned system or module needs to be equipped with a power chip with high efficiency and reliable function.
3. Communication equipment:
With the development of 5G technology, the number of communication base stations and the number of single base station antennas have also increased. Compared with 4G base stations, 5G base stations require more antennas, and ESC antennas have higher requirements on the performance of power chips such as anti-interference.
4. Consumer Electronics:
Consumer electronics refers to electronic products that consumers use on a daily basis, such as personal computers, smart phones, digital cameras, etc.
Common power management chip manufacturers:
Texas Instruments, Analog Devices Inc. (Maxim Integrated), Renesas, Infineon, Microchip Technology, STMicroelectronics, etc. are relatively well-known PMIC chip manufacturers.
Future industry development trends
In the electronic equipment system, the power management chip has functions such as power conversion, distribution, detection, etc., and is an indispensable device in all electronic equipment. With the continuous increase in the types of electronic products, the functions and application scenarios continue to increase, with low noise, high efficiency and low power consumption. Miniaturization and integration. Digital-analog hybrid has become an important development trend in the power management chip industry.
(1) Low noise
As the size of the chip process continues to shrink, the density of switching current per unit area is higher. The current switching speed is faster, and the interference factors such as the noise level generated by the internal circuit increase significantly, which will directly affect the stability of the voltage output. Therefore, the noise reduction and ripple suppression capabilities of the power management chip play an important role in the stability of the power supply of electronic equipment. Low noise has become an important technical development direction of power management chips.
(2) High efficiency and low power consumption
In the power field, power conversion efficiency and standby power consumption have always been one of the core indicators. In recent years, with the use of smart phones. Portable mobile devices, such as wearables, are frequently used in daily life. With the increase of time, the requirements for durability and operational efficiency of electronic devices are getting higher and higher, and the continuous and strict energy consumption policies around the world have also put forward higher requirements on the power consumption of electronic devices. In this context, through the design level. Improving the high efficiency and low power consumption of power management chips has become an important development trend in the industry.
