Mobile phone power IC, integrated or discrete

As electronic products develop towards being thinner, smaller, digitalized, and integrated with multiple functions, the power management IC is becoming increasingly important. According to iSuppli, the global power management semiconductor market grew by 18% from $17.9 billion in 2003 to $21.2 billion in 2004, and grew by another 5% in 2005.

Integration is the trend

With the increasing diversity of mobile phone features such as color screens, games, built-in cameras and GPS, power management has become an increasingly important design challenge. With the advent of 3G, mobile phones not only need to browse the web, send emails, take digital photos, but also play video streams, all of which bring huge challenges to power management.

In portable applications such as mobile phones, the integration of multiple devices is inevitable. Richtek Technology, a Taiwanese power management chip manufacturer, has pointed out that integration is imperative in the future based on the needs of small space and high efficiency. Wang Zhiyong, executive vice president of Weikai Communication (China) Co., Ltd., emphasized in an interview with a reporter from China Electronics News that it is a trend for mobile phone power management ICs to be integrated into one chip. "The advantage of this is that the size is smaller and the mobile phone design is easier." Wang Zhiyong said.

Zhou Yanwu, research director of Shuiqingmuhua Consulting Co., Ltd., believes that mobile phone semiconductors must adopt a platform strategy. Only a platform strategy can meet the requirements of mobile phone manufacturers for fast delivery, low cost and excellent performance. Baseband alone is not enough, power management unit and radio frequency are also necessary. "It is difficult for a separate power management unit to gain recognition from mobile phone manufacturers, because mobile phones are all developed in a platform model, and designers will not choose an independent power management unit." Zhou Yanwu said.

Flexibility affected

System chip manufacturers integrate power chips into IC products. The power supply is integrated into them, which makes it difficult for engineers to replace them. Liu Gan, sales manager of Eden Technology, said in an interview with a reporter from China Electronics News that it is a trend for mobile phone power management ICs to be integrated into one chip, but the flexibility of design and procurement is affected. "With the continuous expansion of multimedia, the power management unit integrated into the baseband cannot meet all needs." Liu Gan believes.

Currently, the integration of SoC is getting higher and higher. Some high-end portable product processors have integrated power management parts, so system manufacturers can avoid matching corresponding power management chips in the periphery. If more and more power management functions are integrated into the processor, the market space for separate power management chips in these fields seems to be getting smaller and smaller.

But in many applications, power management is an independent device, which requires special technology, which is different from the processor technology. Using external power management will make the whole system easier to upgrade and more flexible. Whether the power management IC is integrated or discrete is two aspects of this problem.

Overall design cost reduction

By integrating the power management IC into one chip, the overall design cost will certainly be reduced. Wang Zhiyong, executive vice president of Weikai Communication (China) Co., Ltd., emphasized in an interview with a reporter from China Electronics News that the integration of mobile phone power management IC into one chip will reduce the overall design cost, but it will also bring some negative effects. "The cost of maintenance will increase, and it will also bring some problems in the production process." Wang Zhiyong emphasized. Liu Gan, sales manager of Yideng Technology, also believes that the integration of mobile phone power management IC into one chip will reduce the overall design cost. For products with a fast update speed like mobile phones, shortening the time to market for new products is very important. Now more and more processors have integrated power management functions or use specific power modules.

The modern cell phone has become a pocket media center, and newer camera phones will include higher resolution cameras, flash memory cards, and personal security features like fingerprint sensors. Maintaining high battery life in such a sophisticated mobile device through cellular phone power management technology will be one of the most significant engineering challenges for any designer in the coming years.