High-Side Driver Takes A Ride On SMBus To Suit Portables

The LTC1710 is a high-side driver that includes dual MOSFET switches for SMBus control of low power peripherals in portable electronics. The device uses the two-wire SMBus interface to allow independent control of two 0.4 ohm/300 mA internal n-channel power switches that are fully enhanced by on-board charge pumps. These integrated features let designers reduce the size and complexity of products by eliminating the need for external switches required with most other high-side drivers. The LTC1710 operates over an input voltage range of 2.7V to 5.5V and maintains the SMBus specification of 0.6V VIL and 1.4V VIH input thresholds throughout the entire supply range while drawing only 14 µA of standby current. This device uses one three-state programmable address pin that allows three addresses for a total of six switches on the same bus. The device also has a separate user-controlled drain supply for each switch so it can control SMBus peripherals operating from different supply voltages.