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New ICs Can Simplify Power Supply Design and Boost Power Efficiency
Power Management ICs Optimized for 32-bit Microprocessor- and Microcontroller-based Applications
| The manufacturer says . . . | ChipCenter's Paul O'Shea says . . . |
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Embedded systems designers who use advanced integrated microprocessors and microcontrollers, such as those in Motorolaŭs MPC500, ColdFire 5200 and 5300, and MPC824x families, can now take advantage of the newest power management integrated circuits (ICs) from Motorola Inc. Virtually all embedded systems that use microcontrollers (MCUs) or microprocessors (MPUs) require power management. The new MC33997, MC33998 and MC33394 power management ICs, based on Motorolaŭs SMARTMOS? technology, are designed to control the operating voltage required of the MCU or MPU, or of a complete block within a system. These ICs are engineered to enable systems designers to implement comprehensive power management functions without having to design all of the circuitry. In addition, designers may control power to system blocks such as a hard disk drive on a computer, or a node on a network, independent of the other system blocks. Working in combination with the Motorola MPC500 family of MCUs, applications supported by these power management ICs may include: engine, transmission, and high-performance auto body applications, industrial and process control, as well as avionics systems. In networking applications, these new power management ICs may be used with MPC824x or ColdFire integrated MPUs to support system voltage needs. "Customers designing all types of embedded systems have the need to manage power. By offering ICs based on SMARTMOS technology, Motorola helps its customers lower overall system cost and optimize performance," said Bob Jarrett, corporate vice president and general manager of Motorola's Analog Products Division. "When combined with Motorolaŭs market-leading (Gartner-Dataquest) 32-bit integrated microprocessors and microcontrollers, as well as development tools and technical support, we offer our customers very comprehensive system solutions to enhance the value of their end products." The MC33394 IC is a multi-output power supply device with a high-speed controller area network (CAN) transceiver that is designed to provide simplified power control of advanced MPU and MCU architectures due to its power-sequencing feature. This capability insures that each required voltage is supplied with the correct timing and level relative to the core voltage, a requirement for many new, deep sub-micron MPUs and MCUs. The MC33997 and MC33998 ICs are mid-line power supply devices with similar features to the MC33394, while differing from the MC33394 by offering increased current handling capability, a reduced number of outputs, and elimination of the CAN transceiver. Motorola has added digital circuitry to these new power supply devices to eliminate the need for external logic to control the voltage sequencing required for new, deep sub-micron MPUs and MCUs. This feature helps to reduce the external parts count and simplifies the system design. The MC33997, MC33998 and MC33394 products join Motorolaŭs expanding family of power management ICs. Existing products in Motorolaŭs power management IC family include the MC33389, MC33889, and MC33989 devices that support the high performance HCS12 16-bit MPU architecture. The newest devices are also designed to be applicable to multi-voltage 8- and 16-bit MCUs that are expected to emerge as semiconductor companies continue to decrease the process feature sizes of their controller families.
The MC33394 is a multi-output power supply device with high speed CAN transceiver. The IC incorporates a step-up/step-down
switching pre-regulator, which operates over a wide input voltage range from 3.5V to 26.5V with transients up to 45V.
Additional features include:
The MC33997 and MC33998 devices are multiple output, medium power, integrated power supply ICs that operate from a 5.5V
to 40V input source. These devices offer features similar to the MC33394, but with no CAN transceiver and the following
differences: The new power supply ICs are based on Motorolaŭs SMARTMOS technology, a combinational process designed to integrate high-density/high-speed logic with precision analog and high-voltage/high-current power circuitry. This enables systems designers to reduce the number of system components by utilizing ICs that combine analog, power and logic functions on one chip, as well as increase the tolerance to extreme environmental conditions. And, as every MCU and MPU requires power supply supervisory functions, SMARTMOS devices employ an excellent IC technology to monitor system inputs and control electrical loads. Motorola Web site |
It may seem hard to believe but many people donŭt know that Motorola does analog design. It seems to be a secret and it could be because of the way the company focuses on analog. About 5-6 years ago Motorola restructured and focused on markets and market leaders such as wireless, automotive, and networking. When the company did that they realigned their product groups with the specific systems or applications that they best fit. Unfortunately, in that restructuring, the analog group was cut up because analog fit in every application, and so it was scattered all over Motorola - and essentially lost. Thatŭs good and bad because some groups emphasized analog and others didnŭt. The company focused on customer application sets, and did very well in those areas. The down side of that approach is that most of the standard analog went away. Most of it was sold to ON Semiconductor and the rest was swallowed by the ASSP (Application Specific Standard Product) focus as opposed to the standard analog focus. Finally, about 1 year ago Moto decided to revise the Analog Products Division, and over the past 6 months the company has re-aggregated all the analog business into a single division. The products today are spinouts of existing products as well as some new products. I know what youŭre thinking, youŭre wondering why I havenŭt mentioned the cell phone business. Youŭre right of course, there is analog in the cell phone and it is the only exception in the Motorola cell phone business strategy. The company has always kept the cell phone analog as part of the wireless group because it is so tightly tied to the application. The reinvigorated analog division (minus the cell phone business) covers all the automotive, ink-jet printer, wired telephony, and consumer product applications. The products offered here are the reentry into the analog market and are highly integrated for specific solutions. They are power management products that address specific problems in the marketplace and mate well with Motorola microprocessor/microcontroller families. You may be wondering how well these products mate with other company microprocessors/controllers . Motorola says that for now they will focus on their own microprocessors but they will expand to others in the near future. The reason is based on a dose of reality. Since many designers of controllers/processors use deep sub-micron processes and can offer more than a single voltage, they now have multiple voltages that require tolerances and interactions between those voltages. That leads to a significant design effort and Motorola wanted to start by supporting in-house products. The first three parts introduced are power management ICs designed to work with a series of 32-bit microcontrollers from Motorola. The MC33394 was designed as a system-powered supply for the MPC500 family and includes the multiple voltages necessary to drive the part, namely 5V, 3.3V, and 2.6V. The 33394 takes care of all the power sequencing, handles power-on reset and provides a high-speed controller area network (CAN) transceiver that mates with the CAN transceiver that comes with the other products, and also provides several voltage outputs that can be used by other ICs in the system. The 33394 is a system-level power supply driven by the products that use the MPC5 series devices. The 33394 was designed with 8 outputs for the system level power supply. Application examples would be automotive, low-end networking (used in your home) and industrial control. The company says they are seeing interest in home gateways and routers or 802.11 boxes with built in routers. The remaining two parts introduced are for more generic applications than supplied by the 33394. The MC33997 and 998 parts are a subset of the 394. They still support systems but with a couple major differences, they have fewer features and a lower cost. Another major difference is that they handle increased power capabilities and can deliver a couple amps output instead of 1 or 1.5 A split over many supplies. The MC33997 and 98 were designed to address dual voltage parts primarily where the core voltage and I/O voltages are different. It can take a big input voltage and still output 5V and 3V or 5V and 2.6V. However, the 394 outputs 5V, 3.3V, 2.6V and two more adjustable to as low as 1.2V, a really broad output range. All of those outputs can be treated as a controller for an external transistor. So if you need 5A going thru your 2.6V supply you can easily put an external pass transistor and still use this part as the controller with all the features on board. The company expects most of the applications will be for the MC33394. They expect primarily the three voltages required by the MPC500 family which is 5, 3.3 and 2.5V and most of the applications to be industrial and automotive. The 33997 and 98 have a much broader application range because they are simpler, general-purpose part. There will be interest from PC manufacturers and laptop makers for the 997 because it is a small part and outputs dual voltages at reasonable power level. However, these parts wonŭt drive a Pentium because that take tens of amps and the 997 is for two amp parts. The 997 and 98 have a generic feature set so you could see it mating with a Broadcom box in a set top box or Motorolaŭs ColdFire processor line (MCF5xxx) where they need 3V supplies and they have other 5V ICs in the system. We should expect that Moto will introduce similar chips in the near future but at lower voltages of 1.8 and 1.2V to support portable applications. These parts have a wide input voltage. The 394 operates up to 26.5V steady state and can take high transients to 45V. The 997 and 98 range from 5.5V to 40V, steady state. All these parts are specified and tested across a temperature range from -40 to +125°C, which makes them a good choice for industrial controls and automotive applications. Samples of the MC33394 power supply IC are available now with production quantities expected to be available in November 2002. The MC33394 device comes in a 44-lead HSOP (heatsink small outline package) for a suggested list price of $4.34 (USD) and a 44-lead QFN (quad flat no-lead) package for $3.84 in 10,000-piece quantities. Samples of the MC33997 IC are available now in a 24-lead SOICW (small outline IC wide) package, with production quantities expected to be available October 2002. Its suggested list price for 10,000 units is $1.47. Samples of the MC33998 are available now in a 16-lead SOICW package with production quantities expected in May 2003. The suggested list price for 10,000 units is $2.33. More detailed application information for these and other Motorola analog devices is available through product data sheets which can be downloaded from Motorolaŭs web site
Data Sheets:
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