Dolphin Integration unveils its ultra-low quiescent-current regulator for IoT Systems-on-Chip at 55 nm

Grenoble, France – July 20, 2015 - As they operate only 1 % of their battery life in active mode, the major challenge of IoT applications turns to lowering the power consumption during the deep-sleep mode. In this latter operating mode, circuit architects face the challenge of achieving a power consumption as low as few micro-amperes, while preserving data retention and supplying always-on functions in view of system wake-up.

Dolphin Integration rolls-out the qLR-Aubrey, its ultra-low quiescent-current Linear Regulator. Featuring 150 nA of quiescent current and driving up to 1 mA, this regulator is an essential component enabling system architects to take benefit of the lowest retention voltage for their power island, as low as 0.55 V, while ensuring an efficient voltage regulation of logic in retention.

Key features:

• Quiescent current of 150 nA
• Maximum Output current of 1 mA, enabling to supply islands in data retention mode as well as an always-on domain with a slow RTC
• Advanced views for enabling Mode Transition Checks (MTC)
• Complemented with an Over-voltage Protection Module (OPM) for enabling direct connection to a Li-Ion battery.
• Availability at TSMC and SMIC 55 nm and easily re-targetable from 180 nm to 40 nm at most foundries.

The qLR-Aubrey then enhances the overall performance of the celebrated construct of a Retention Alternating Regulator (RAR): the RAR features the benefit of the qLR-Aubrey for retention mode, while supporting a load with high-current through its switching regulator during active mode. Mode transitions then are ensured by the embedded Regulator Control Unit, which ensures safe transitions between the low-power and normal modes.

Overall our users can benefit from our encompassing Low-power Librairies, which features low-voltage capabilities for retention of main-stem islands and for always-on islands, operating down to 0.55 V, thus allowing an additional progress toward power reduction.

For more information about regulation components, please visit our website at dolphin-integration.com or contact us at regulators@dolphin-ip.com.

About Dolphin Integration

Dolphin Integration contributes to "enabling mixed signal Systems-on-Chip" for worldwide customers - up to the major actors of the semiconductor industry - with Silicon IP components best at low-power consumption.

This wide offering is based on innovative libraries of standard cells, register files, memory generators and power regulators. Complete networks for power supply can be flexibly assembled together with their loads: from high-resolution converters for audio and measurement applications to power-optimized micro-controllers of 8 or 16 and 32 bits.

Over 30 years of diverse experiences in the integration of silicon IP components and providing services for ASIC/SoC design and fabrication, with its own EDA solutions solving unaddressed challenges, make Dolphin Integration a genuine one-stop shop covering all customers’ needs for specific requests.

The company striving to incessantly innovate for its customers’ success has led to two strong differentiators:

• state-of-the-art “configured subsystems” for high-performance applications securing the most competitive SoC architectural solutions,
• a team of Integration and Application Engineers supporting each user’s need for optimal application schematics, demonstrated through EDA solutions enabling early performance assessments

Its social responsibility has been from the start focused on the design of integrated circuits with low-power consumption, placing the company in the best position to now contribute to new applications for general power savings through the emergence of the Internet of Things.

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