Milpitas, California
Linear Technology Corp. recently introduced LTC4054—a single-cell linear Li-Ion battery charger with both on-board charge termination circuitry and power transistor. This device is housed in a 5-lead, 1-mm high SOT-23 (ThinSOT) package. It can deliver up to an 800-mA charge current without requiring an external transistor. Alternative solutions with an integrated transistor are housed in a package twice the size of the LTC4054. Moreover, other linear charger controllers in a SOT-23 package depend on an external transistor to deliver the same amount of current as the LTC4054. In addition to an integrated transistor, the LTC4054 also requires no sense resistor, blocking diode, or charge-termination control circuit. This allows a complete design to fit in just an 18-mm² board area with 1-mm height.

To eliminate the risk of overheating, the LTC4054 product incorporates thermal-feedback regulation. This is achieved by automatically controlling the charge current to limit the die temperature during high-power operation or high ambient temperature. The LTC4054 keeps the battery "fresh" after charge termination by monitoring the battery's voltage and automatically recharging it if the voltage drops below a set threshold. Because of its standalone operation, compact solution, and low 4.25-V input supply operation, the LTC4054 is an ideal solution for charging a Li-Ion battery from the USB port in handhelds. The same is true for Bluetooth headsets, portable MP3 players, battery-powered GPS devices, PDAs, and cell phones.

The LTC4054 is a linear charger for single-cell, 4.2-V Li-ion and Li-Polymer batteries. The IC charges the battery in constant-current/constant-voltage mode and terminates charging after detecting C/10. The termination event is indicated by a Charge Status pin, which can signal a microcontroller or drive an LED. The user sets the charge current with a resistor. The float voltage is preset at 4.2-V with ±0.5% accuracy. By measuring the voltage on the LTC4054's PROG pin, the user can monitor charge current for the purpose of gas gauging. The LTC4054 operates from a 4.25-to-6.5-V input source.

Now available, the LTC4054 is priced at $1.40 each in 1000-piece quantities.

For more information, call the company at (800) 4-LINEAR or go to its Web site at www.linear.com.

San Jose, California
ZiLOG, Inc. now brings a new family of high-performance microcontrollers to the market. Known as the eZ80Acclaim! 8-b family of MCUs, these devices deliver enhanced performance, embedded Ethernet media access controller (MAC), and Flash memory to a host of 8-b applications. Such applications range from consumer electronics and security systems to industrial control and embedded networking.

The eZ80 MCU family consists of three products: the F91, F92, and F93. Each offers a wide array of peripherals and 256 kB of Flash memory. Designed to enable easy, direct connections to Ethernet networks and the Internet, these new devices also include an on-chip eZ80 Ethernet MAC, embedded TCP/IP, a host of other standard protocols, and a complete hardware/software design kit.

All three eZ80Acclaim! devices offer backward compatibility with the Z80 family of MCUs. This allows existing Z80 designers to quickly get up to speed on the new architecture. At the same time, new users can take advantage of the product's quick time to market, low system cost, and integrated connectivity to rapidly build embedded solutions.

The F91 microcontroller includes a clock speed of up to 50 MHz, as well as the ability to address 16 MB of address space and perform 24-b integer arithmetic. When combined with on-chip peripherals, the new controller enables design engineers to create a new class of powerful 8-b applications.

Along with 256 kB of Flash program memory, the F91 adds an extra 256-B device-configuration Flash memory and 8 kB of on-chip high-speed SRAM with access speeds of less than 20 ns. The chip also includes four counter/generators, a watchdog timer with an internal RC clocking option, and a real-time clock with both an on-chip 32-kHz oscillator and a PLL with an on-chip oscillator. In contrast to the F91, the F92 and F93 products are designed for more cost-effective applications that only require 20-MHz performance and a subset of the features found on the F91.

To help designers quickly develop a wide variety of embedded systems, ZiLOG provides full development support for the eZ80Acclaim! family. This support includes a full-function ANSI C compiler with debugger, TCP/IP stack, OS, and evaluation hardware. An Ethernet development module is also included. A comprehensive development board with an eZ80Acclaim! MCU plug-in module allows designers to quickly test out their designs. The ZiLOG Developers Studio Integrated Development Environment (ZDS IDE) adds an assembler, linker, debugger, and simulator to the mix to simplify and accelerate software design.

The eZ80 Acclaim! family of products is now available. The F91 MCU comes in a 144-pin package, while the F92/F93 products come in a 100-pin package. Contact the company directly for pricing information or go to its Web site at www.ZiLOG.com.