Multi-Level Converter Facilitates Fast Charging for Portable Devices

June 5, 2025

Murata claims it’s developed the first four-level buck converter for battery-charging applications.

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Designed to solve power challenges in low-profile, high-energy-density applications, pSemi, a Murata company, unveiled a multi-level buck regulator technology that advances mobile battery charging. The multi-level technology is capable of high efficiency and fast battery charging in a package less than 1 mm high. Operating with an input from 4.5 to 18 V, the solution addresses USB and wireless-charging applications.

In operation, a four-level buck mode is enabled for higher input voltages, and a three-level mode targets mid-to-low input voltages. The device can be operated in fixed-ratio, capacitor divider mode with divider ratios 2 and 3 when the input voltage is a programmable power source. Current delivery is up to 6 A per device, with the option to parallel devices to achieve faster charging times in all operation modes using a 1-mm-height inductor.

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About the Author

Alix Paultre | Editor-at-Large, Electronic Design

An Army veteran, Alix Paultre was a signals intelligence soldier on the East/West German border in the early ‘80s, and eventually wound up helping launch and run a publication on consumer electronics for the US military stationed in Europe. Alix first began in this industry in 1998 at Electronic Products magazine, and since then has worked for a variety of publications in the embedded electronic engineering space. Alix currently lives in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Also check out his YouTube watch-collecting channel, Talking Timepieces.