Designers of wearables, fitness-monitors, IoT applications, mobile and all kinds of connected devices work hard to make the battery life of the newest generation of products as long as possible – and that is becoming increasingly difficult as functionality and speed go up but the enclosure size continues to go down. Power supply solutions for these problems require a high degree of integration and a design that mainly minimizes the quiescent current.

With currently the highest efficiency and the lowest quiescent current IQ of only 300 nA, the new MAX17222 nanoPower boost regulator van Maxim makes a minimal form factor and a maximum battery life possible for wearables and IoT applications. The IC operates at an input voltage of 0.4 to 5.5 V (the input current limit is at 500 mA) and generates an output voltage of 1.8 to 5 V. The maximum (peak) efficiency is 95%.


Block diagram of the MAX17222.

Not only does the MAX17222 have an extremely low quiescent current, but the standby current is also minimal. In the True Shutdown mode the minuscule current consumption of 0.5 nA is barely a load to the battery; this current is so small that an many cases an external on/off switch will be unnecessary. For a complete power supply solution the MAX17222 requires only a single resistor and a small output filter. The IC mearures 2 x 2 mm (6-pin µDFN package).