Nordic Semiconductor released three new power management IC upgrades to support a wider range of wireless applications

    Nordic Semiconductor announced the addition of three new products to the nPM1100 power management integrated circuit (IC) series. Previously, this series of products only used ultra-compact 2.1 x 2.1 mm chip-level package (CSP) dimensions.

    The first new product is packaged with a more mainstream 4 x 4 mm QFN module. For products with extreme size limitations, CSP packaging is the preferred requirement; However, when size constraints are not considered, QFN packaging allows for more convenient and cheaper manufacturing advantages and simplifies design, development and verification. Compared with CSP package, QFN package also has better thermal stability and shockproof stability.

    The second and third new nPM1100 upgrade products support higher maximum battery capacity charging (termination) voltage (VTERM) to meet the full charging requirements of some lithium-ion battery types commonly used in portable wireless products. These two upgraded products will also be supplied in CSP or QFN packages.

    The termination voltage is the highest voltage that the battery should reach during charging. The battery charger circuit uses this voltage parameter to switch from constant current charging to constant voltage charging, and finally determines when the battery is fully charged and when to stop (terminate) charging.

    All upgraded products of Nordic nPM1100 do not need to be configured with software, and all settings can be configured through pins.

    Geir Kjosavik, PMIC product director of Nordic Semiconductor, commented: "Chip-level packaging has an amazing degree of miniaturization. In the smallest CSP configuration, including passive components, the nPM100 solution only occupies 23 mm2 of circuit board space."

    "This product has the characteristics of ultra-high power management efficiency and easy operation, which can bring great value to battery-powered applications with less strict space constraints, which are often more suitable for QFN packaging."

    "In addition, the maximum termination voltage of the previous nPM1100 product is lower than some popular lithium-ion batteries used in wearable products. Now, the new nPM1100 upgrade product with higher termination voltage will maximize the application range and power optimization potential of Nordic power management IC, making it applicable to all portable electronic products."

    All three new nPM1100 upgrade products of Nordic have been put into mass production and can be ordered at present. A new version of the existing evaluation kit (nPM1100 EK) (nPM1100 EKHV) has also been launched to evaluate higher charging termination voltage.