The importance of nano-I_Q in different power applications

The need to improve battery life with every device generation is increasing, driving requirements for lower I_Q. These devices can be configured to work in normal mode, sleep/standby mode or shutdown mode. Normal mode only accounts for a very small portion of a power application’s mission profile [1]; these types of products are in standby mode most of the time. The current draw from the power supply can be several milliamperes in normal mode where there will be bursts of high-speed communication, and several nanoamperes when going into sleep or standby mode. Nanoampere-level working modes can conserve power to support longer battery life.

This paper discusses design mechanisms to achieve nano-I_Q in different power applications such as industrial and automotive BMS battery voltage monitors, chargers, DC/DC converters and voltage supervisors, along with challenges. On one hand, nano-I_Q is required to enable longer battery life; on the other hand, the integrated circuit (IC) needs to consume a certain amount of I_Q to sustain functionalities such as system wakeup.