Product category:
Power Supply ICs and Controllers
News Release from: Wolfson Microelectronics | Subject: WM8350
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 16 October 2007
Power management product cuts space
required
The WM8350 is compatible with multimedia application processors and provides a highly integrated solution without compromising audio performance.
Wolfson Microelectronics' WM8350 power management product features an integrated high-fidelity audio codec and a power management subsystem which delivers high-performance audio, extended battery life and reduced system cost for portable audio and navigation applications The WM8350 is compatible with multimedia application processors and provides a highly integrated solution without compromising audio performance
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 13 Apr 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The WM8350 can save up to 25% on the device's bill of materials (BOM) and 50% on the board footprint.
The WM8350 offers a low-power audio codec, on-chip clock generation, six DC/DC convertors, four LDO regulators, a battery charger, two white LED drivers and an auxiliary analogue to digital convertor (ADC), all inside a 7 x 7mm BGA package.
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It offers pop and click suppression, improved audio quality and a reduced external component count, low DAC playback power consumption, longer battery life in portable audio applications and a 2MHz switching frequency on DC/DC convertors.
Paul Wilson, Wolfson's Power Management Product Line Manager said, "The pressure is on for system designers to deliver high-performance multimedia experiences and extended battery life into ever smaller devices and get them to market fast".
"It's a complex and highly competitive market and the WM8350 provides an integrated approach that enables system architects and designers to meet these often conflicting demands".
The WM8350 features a high-performance, high-fidelity stereo codec with advanced mixing capability, delivering 98dB SNR performance.
It supports six analogue inputs, two stereo analogue outputs and two mono line outputs and can drive headphones directly.
The WM8350's integrated power management functionality and power efficiency is on a par with competitive discrete solutions.
A built-in power management controller is responsible for the output voltage settings, start-up sequence and low-power modes for all internal DC/DC convertors and LDO regulators.
Four 2MHz DC/DC step-down (buck) convertors can be used to generate the supplies for CPU core, I/O, memory devices and other system peripherals.
Each of these convertors provides a programmable output voltage between 0.85V - 3.4V in 25mV steps with peak efficiencies of more than 90% using a small external inductor and capacitor.
Two 1MHz DC/DC step-up (boost) convertors with greater than 90% peak efficiencies can be used for backlight displays and generation of +5V supply for USB OTG.
Four 150mA low noise LDO voltage regulators can be used to generate the supplies for the audio codec, external PLL and other system functions.
Each of these regulators provides a programmable output voltage between 0.9V - 3.3V in 50mV and 100mV steps.
A single-cell lithium battery charger is included which supports programmable target voltage, trickle and fast charge modes and various safety features for the end application.
Autonomous power supply selection from USB and/or a wall-adapter enables "instant on" in any portable application even when the battery is dead.
The WM8350 incorporates thirteen GPIO pins which can be programmed for alternate system functions including system wakeups and enabling low-power operation.
The WM8350 is highly flexible and can be optimised to control power-up, power-down and low power sequences for different system requirements.
For faster time to market Wolfson is working with the leading multimedia application processor vendors to develop WM8350 enabled reference platforms and software drivers.
The WM8350 is available for sampling now in a 129-pin 7x7mm BGA package.
WM8350 customer evaluation boards with the Wolfson Interactive Setup and Configuration Environment (WISCE) are available to aid device evaluation and development.
WISCE provides a interactive register map interface allowing unprecedented control and overview of the device settings.
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