Freescale intros application-optimized power management IC family for increased system efficiency

embedded world 2012, NUREMBERG, GERMANY: Addressing rapidly shrinking system power budgets and the design complexities associated with applications processors entering the multicore era, Freescale Semiconductor introduced a new generation of power management ICs (PMICs) that work seamlessly with the company’s advanced i.MX 6 applications processors. Freescale’s new PF Series of multifunction PMICs includes products optimized to meet the specific demands of several high-growth applications within the smart mobile devices, automotive infotainment and embedded markets.

Today’s sophisticated and increasingly multiprocessing applications processors deliver new levels of performance, sparking exciting new end-products, but challenging systems designers responsible for driving power envelopes even smaller for slimmer end-product form factors and longer battery life.

Freescale’s new PF Series of PMICs are designed to help systems designers and OEMs quickly and easily configure the most power-efficient solutions for their specific application based on Freescale’s advanced i.MX 6 product family. The optimal configurability of PF Series products allows the PMICs to scale across single-, dual- and quad-core i.MX 6 offerings.

Products in the PF Series will support Freescale’s broad i.MX 6 family of SoCs, which integrate multiple power management functions previously handled by discrete PMICs. This allows Freescale’s new PF Series products to in turn incorporate more system-level power management functionality, ultimately resulting in a platform solution that simplifies design, reduces overall power and helps speed time to market. Ease-of-use is further enhanced by the availability of comprehensive reference designs that ship on boards with i.MX 6 processors, application-specific PMICs and software that ties the components together seamlessly.

“Freescale’s next-generation PF Series provides customers with optimal system- level power management for what we call comprehensive Power Fusion,” said Michael Jennings, power management operations manager for Freescale’s Automotive & Industrial Solutions Group. “Our next-generation PF Series reference designs seamlessly blend our latest i.MX 6 processors and configurable PMICs with software and support to give customers a reliable, simplified and accelerated development experience.”

Built for reliability and longevity, PF Series PMICs also offer optimal flexibility, allowing for application-specific power management. The PMICs are programmable, enabling systems designers to deliver voltage levels to the precise requirements of a specific end-product. Additionally, PF Series products are highly configurable. Incorporating one time programmable (OTP) memory allows for the precise partitioning and assignment of power rails to specific cores or other processing technologies.