San Jose, California – February 18, 2014 – With the release of Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM)’s MAX16993 PMIC, engineers can now design smaller, quieter, and more energy-efficient automotive dashboards.

Automotive OEMs often limit the power consumption of instrument panel modules to less than 100µA in standby mode. However, meeting the standby power consumption limit of 100µA set by OEMs is difficult due to the high power consumption required to support all instrument panel functions. The MAX16993 is the industry's only 3-channel solution that consumes only 25µA of quiescent current under no-load conditions. This enables the satisfaction of automotive OEM requirements that could not be met by using conventional DC-DC converters that consume several mA of current. Furthermore, the MAX16993 integrates a fast switching frequency controller and two output converters capable of supplying 3A each, reducing board space by more than 50% compared to existing discrete solutions. By using a switching frequency of 2.1MHz, it does not affect the AM band and allows for the use of small external inductors and fewer output capacitors. The MAX16993 is ideal for automotive instrument panel and infotainment applications.

"The MAX16993 integrates multiple industry-leading features into a single chip," said Dan Dempsey, General Manager of Maxim Integrated's Automotive Business Unit. "As a result, the MAX16993 provides high-efficiency automotive power solutions for modern instrument panels."

The MAX16993 is available in 5mm x 5mm x 0.75mm, 32-pin TQFN-EP and 5mm x 5mm x 0.8mm, side-wettable QFND-EP packages, is AEC-Q100 certified, and operates in an automotive temperature range of -40°C to +125°C.

The MAX16993 EV kit can be used for easy design. High-resolution images of the MAX16993 end application and MAX16993 block diagram are provided.