Wolfson Microelectronics ( www.wolfsonmicro.com ), a leading provider of mixed-signal semiconductors for consumer electronics, announced today the launch of its innovative Power Management Subsystem, the 'WM8325'.

The WM8325, the world's highest-performance current monolithic power management IC (PMIC), is offered at a reasonable price as a flexible solution for portable multimedia applications such as smart books, tablet PCs, e-books, media players, and smartphones.

The WM8325 features four programmable DC-DC converters, one of which can provide up to 2.5A. Additionally, four of the eleven built-in LDO regulators provide low-noise capabilities suitable for sensitive analog subsystems. Notably, the optimized QFN package was developed to enable the use of a low-cost 4-layer printed circuit board (PCB) process, which improves thermal characteristics and reduces parasitic components while lowering costs. Furthermore, wide PCB tracks have been applied for all high-current paths to enhance transient response performance. In addition, low thermal resistance (24°C/W), electrical resistance, and enhanced DC-DC technology guarantee a performance improvement of over 5% compared to previous models of the WM8325 and PMIC DC-DC converters.

The on-chip regulator integrated into the WM8325 provides power for its own backup battery switching as well as for always-on PMIC functions such as register mapping and the Real-Time Clock (RTC). Additionally, the 12-bit auxiliary ADC supports a wide range of applications for internal and external analog sampling, such as voltage sensing and temperature measurement. This product's One-Time Programmable (OTP) non-volatile memory is useful for shortening time-to-market.

The WM8325's Crystal Oscillator and RC Oscillator are SRs capable of operating the system in low-power mode.