A new step-down buck converter for multi-cell battery applications has been released, offering extended battery life with a maximum efficiency of 94 percent and a WLP that is 61 percent smaller than existing ones.

Analog Devices has released the 'MAX77540', a step-down buck converter for multi-cell battery applications such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) headsets, land mobile radios (LMR), and DSLR cameras.

In multi-cell battery applications, two-stage power conversion, as well as the smallest possible package size and long battery life, are required.

On the other hand, the conventional method using a front-end converter that drops the voltage down to 5V or less to lower the voltage to the system level voltage has low efficiency and reduces the system's battery life.

In addition, this method requires an additional converter, and often necessitates an inductor as well, resulting in an increase in solution size and cost.

The high-power density MAX77540 buck converter extends battery life with a maximum efficiency of 94 percent from 7.4 V to 3.3 V and is suitable for space-constrained applications with wafer-level packaging (WLP) that is 61 percent smaller than the existing Quad Flat No-lead (QFN) package.

The MAX77540 has a wide input voltage range of 4V to 16V and two It provides single-step conversion to core voltage through the USB-C rail and 2S and 3S multicell batteries with 3A switching.

In addition, dual 3A or single 6A outputs can also be easily implemented.

The basic power setting consists of only two external resistors, and additional control required for advanced power management technology is possible via the I2C interface.

External frequency tracking and spread spectrum functions provide the low EMI characteristics required for data sensing and processing equipment.

Detailed information about the MAX77540 can be found on the website.