MAX8904
High-Efficiency Power-Management IC with I2C
Control for 2-Cell Li+ Battery Operated Devices
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Detailed Description
The MAX8904 power-management ICs provide a com-
plete power-supply solution for 2-cell Li+ handheld/Li-Poly
applications such as point-of-sale terminals, digital SLR
cameras, digital video cameras, and ultra-mobile PCs.
The MAX8904 include five step-down converters (1V2-
0.6A, 1V8-0.975A, 3V3-1.25A, 5V0-0.8A, and ADJ-
1.5A) with internal MOSFETs and +1%/-3% accurate
output voltages for processor core, memory, I/O, and
other system power rail requirements. The ADJ con-
verter provides an adjustable output voltage that is 6-
bit programmable through the I2C interface from 3.0V
to 5.1V, in 33.3mV steps.
LCD backlighting is supported by a WLED boost con-
verter that can provide 35mA for up to 8 WLEDs while
operating in the current regulator mode. This boost
converter is also configurable as a 6 bit programmable
voltage source that can provide up to 63mA of output
current. In this voltage mode, the output voltage is 6-bit
programmable through the I2C interface from 12.5V to
18.7V, in 100mV steps.
System input current monitoring for power manage-
ment is facilitated by an on-board Current Sense
Amplifier (CSA) with differential inputs and a 1.2V full
scale ground referenced analog output. The CSA has
an I2C programmable gain of 20V/V and 40V/V for full-
scale outputs of 4A and 2A, respectively, when used
with a 15mΩcurrent-sense resistor.
A 400kHz, I2C interface supports output voltage setting
of ADJ power rail and boost regulator (voltage source
mode), WLED current setting for the boost regulator
(WLED current regulator mode), enable/disable of ADJ,
5V0, boost regulator, CSA and GPIO control. The I2C
interface also enables the host processor to read on-
board fault status registers when interrupted by the
MAX8904 FLT pin under system fault conditions. An
emergency shutdown input, SHDN allows converters
preselected through I2C to turn off immediately, thus
saving valuable firmware execution time under power
fail conditions.
The MAX8904 features an 8-bit GPIO port controller with
PWM capability. The GPIO port pins power up as Schmitt-
trigger CMOS inputs. Programmable configurations are:
• Schmitt-trigger input with internal 1MΩpullup to
GPIOPWR
• Open-drain output, with internal 10kΩpullup resis-
tor off-state, capable of sinking up to 20mA current
from GPIOPWR
• Open-drain output with high-impedance state, capa-
ble of sinking up to 20mA current from GPIOPWR
• High-impedance output
GPIO0 can be used to set the I2C slave address of the
MAX8904 to either CEh or 8Eh (see Table 1).
A current-limited switch (CLS) is provided, with a minimum
output current of 425mA, which allows system designers
to control input power to external peripheral devices.
The MAX8904 supports input overvoltage protection
(OVP) at 13.5V (typ) by controlling an external n-MOSFET
and reverse polarity protection (down to -28V) of down-
stream circuits by controlling an external p-MOSFET.
An uncommitted, active-low, high voltage open-drain
comparator (CMP) with a 1.25V internal reference and
20mA sink current capability that can function as a
buzzer driver or can be used for power fail sensing is
also provided.
The MAX8904’s PWREN logic input turns on 1V2, 1V8,
3V3, and 5V0 default power rails. An internal 5V low-
voltage linear regulator powered from the input power
source provides power for the internal drive and control
blocks. When the input is below 5V, the regulator out-
put follows the input down to 3.4V. When the input volt-
age drops below 3.4V (UVLO), all circuitry except the
overvoltage protection block are turned off. When the
input voltage drops below 2.85V (OVPWR UVLO), the
overvoltage protection block is turned off.
I
2
C Interface
The MAX8904 internal I2C serial interface provides flex-
ible control setup, including ON/OFF control of all
power converters (except 1V2, 1V8, and 3V3), CLS,
CSA and CMP, the ADJ output voltage, the BST output
voltage or output current, and the 8-bit GPIO port func-
tionality. The MAX8904 internal control and fault status
registers are also accessed through the standard bi-
directional, 2-wire I2C serial interface. The I2C serial
interface consists of a serial-data line (SDA) and a seri-
al-clock line (SCL) to achieve bidirectional communica-
tion between the master and the slave. The MAX8904 is
a slave-only device, relying upon a master to generate
a clock signal. The master (typically a microprocessor)
initiates data transfer on the bus and generates SCL to
permit data transfer. The MAX8904 supports SCL clock
rates up to 400kHz.
I2C is an open-drain bus. SDA and SCL require pullup
resistors (500Ωor greater). Optional resistors (24Ω) in
series with SDA and SCL protect the device inputs from
high-voltage spikes on the bus lines. Series resistors
also minimize crosstalk and undershoot on bus signals.