Li-Ion Monitor/Protector Resides On One Chip

Deigned as the first configurable single-chip smart battery solution, the ATmega406 high-voltage microcontroller integrates full two- and four-cell Lithium Ion smart battery monitoring and protection. The device includes a voltage regulator, allowing for 4V to 25V operation, and features three 25V-tolerant FET drivers for charge, discharge, and pre-charge, as well as FETs for cell balancing. Other features include a Coulomb counter a/d converter with an 18-bit output for battery current monitoring, and a 12-bit a/d converter for individual cell voltage and temperature monitoring. Both converters rely on an internal voltage reference with less than ±0.1% error over temperature after calibration. Other features include 40 KB of flash memory, 512 bytes of EEPROM, and 2 KB of SRAM. Additionally, the device draws less than 1.2 mA in active mode and less than 2 µA in power-off mode. Available in a 48-pin LQFP, pricing starts at $2.75 each/100,000. ATMEL CORP., San Jose, CA. (408) 441-0311.