New Industry Products

Semtech Launches SC802 Series Battery Charger ICs

April 04, 2004 by Jeff Shepard

Semtech Corp. (Camarillo, CA), a producer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, announced its SC802 Series of lithium-ion/lithium-polymer battery charger ICs, which feature a six-hour programmable charge timer and thermistor voltage input sensor to allow designers to program in redundant charge termination functions to protect portable products from faulty batteries.

The SC802 chargers automatically detect the voltage levels in a battery and will initiate either a pre-charge current for deeply discharged batteries with less than 2.8 V of power, or fast-charge current for batteries with power levels higher than 2.8 V. Once a battery reaches 70 percent of capacity, the current is reduced while the voltage remains constant until the battery is fully charged. Once charging is complete, the SC802 goes into a maintenance mode to ensure that the battery remains at full capacity while a charging adapter is connected.

The SC802 features a 14 V input-voltage range that eliminates additional protection circuitry required by other 5 V chargers in the event of faulty adapters. The SC802 also provides an low-dropout mode that can be used to power the device directly from the power adapter when the battery is removed. The SC802 is available in an optional, lead-free 4 mm x 4 mm footprint, 0.9 mm height micro-leaded package (MLP) that is suitable for use in cell phones, smart phones, charger stations and personal digital assistants.

The SC802 chargers are available immediately in production quantities. Per-unit pricing for 1,000-piece quantities is $1.37 for the SC802IMLTR (standard MLP4x4-16 package), $1.37 for the SC802IMLTRT (lead-free MLP4x4-16 package), and $1.39 for the SC802AIMLTRT (lead-free MLP4x4-16 package).