Texas Instruments Korea (President Kent Jeon, www.ti.com/ww/kr ) January 7, 2013 – Texas Instruments (TI) (President Kent Jeon) today announced the industry’s lowest power DC/DC step-down converter, answering the question, “How low can power go?” The new converter increases the amount of harvested energy available to the end application by up to 70 percent compared to other devices. It also enables battery-free power for applications such as wireless sensor networks, monitoring systems, smoke detectors, wearable medical devices and mobile accessories.

“Imagine never having to replace the batteries in a smoke detector for the rest of its life,” said Sami Kiriaki, senior vice president of power management at TI. “TI continues to develop circuits with ultra-low operating currents and high power efficiency that can manage microwatts to milliwatts of energy extracted from the ambient environment. These new power circuits will open up possibilities for designers that were previously unthinkable with battery-powered systems.”

Ultra-low power DC/DC converter
TI's TPS62736 DC/DC converter achieves high power conversion efficiency with output currents ranging from 10µA to 50mA, with an operating current of only 350nA and a standby current of only 20nA. It also achieves greater than 90% efficiency at output currents exceeding 15µA. The TPS62736 regulator steps down the voltage from power sources such as thin-film or conventional batteries or supercapacitors, and has a programmable output voltage.

Energy harvesting design possible
TI's innovative power management, sensor, and microcontroller products are advancing low-power design by maximizing energy extraction from ambient sources with highest efficiency and extremely low power consumption. In 2011, TI introduced the bq25504 boost charger with a low quiescent current of 330 nA, enabling startup from a single-cell solar cell under low-light conditions or a thermoelectric generator under low temperature differential conditions.

TI also recently began sampling the MSP430FR59xx microcontrollers based on its “Wolverine” technology platform. These new FRAM-based microcontrollers operate at as low as 360 nA in low-power Real Time Clock (RTC) mode and less than 100 µA/MHz normal operation, and feature fast 6.5 µs wake-up times and high-precision peripherals. The MSP430FR59xx provides flexibility, superior performance, and extended battery life in a variety of applications, including wireless sensing systems, energy harvesting, smart grids, building automation, and security systems.

Supply and Price
The TPS62736 is currently sampling. It comes in a 3.5 mm x 3.5 mm QFN package and is priced at $2.00 in 1,000-unit quantities. Volume production is scheduled to begin in late Q1 2013. Evaluation modules are currently available to key customers.