DESCRIPTION

WM8320 is an integrated power-management subsystem which provides a cost-effective, flexible, single-chip solution for power management, specifically targeted at the requirements of a range of low-power portable applications. WM8320 is specifically designed to operate as a system PMIC supporting the ARM9™, ARM11™ and ARM Cortex-A™ series processors at the heart of a range of low-power applications.

The start-up behaviour and configuration is fully programmable in an integrated OTP non-volatile memory. This highly flexible solution helps reduce time-to-market, as changing application requirements can be very easily accommodated in the OTP contents. An external EEPROM can be used to configure the WM8320 for development purposes.

The WM8320 power management subsystem comprises four programmable DC-DC converters and eleven LDO regulators (four of which are low-noise for supplying sensitive analogue subsystems). The integrated OTP bootstrap circuitry controls the start-up sequencing and voltages of the converters and regulators as well as the sequencing of system clocks.

The DC-DC converters deliver high performance and high efficiency across a wide range of operating conditions. They are optimised to support the high load current transients seen in modern processor core domains. DC-DC3 / DC-DC4 can be connected together and operated in ‘dual’ mode to support an increased current load of up to 1.6A.

An on-chip regulator provides power for always-on PMIC functions such as register map and the RTC. The device provides autonomous backup battery switchover. A low-power LDO is included to support ‘Alive’ processor power domains external to the WM8320.

A 12-bit Auxiliary ADC supports a wide range of applications for internal as well as external analogue sampling, such as voltage detection and temperature measurement.

WM8320 includes a crystal oscillator and an internal RC oscillator to generate all clock signals for autonomous system start-up and processor clocking. A Secure Real time Clock (S-RTC) and alarm function is included, capable of waking up the system from low-power modes. A watchdog function is provided to ensure system integrity.

To maximise battery life, highly-granular power management enables each function in the WM8320 subsystem to be independently powered down through a control interface or alternatively through register and OTP-configurable GPIOs. The device offers a standby power consumption of <10uA, making it particularly suitable for portable applications.

The WM8320 is supplied in a 7x7mm 169-ball BGA package, ideal for use in portable systems. The WM8320 forms part of the Wolfson series of audio and power management solutions, and is widely register compatible with the WM831X family of PMIC devices.