Introduction
The MCP16503 Evaluation Board has been developed to test the capabilities of the MCP16503 and to control and monitor it through the USB interface (via the I2C Monitor GUI).
The MCP16503 Evaluation Board is designed to simplify the evaluation and testing of all the MCP16503 capabilities. The VIN supply has a 2.7V–5.5V range and VOUT has a 1.2V–3.7V range for Buck1 and the two LDOs and 0.6–1.85V for Buck2, Buck3 and Buck4.
An on-board MCP2221, which is a USB 2.0 to I2C/UART Protocol Converter with GPIO, is placed on the board to simplify the configuration of the MCP16503.
The application allows for both manual control of power state pins through 3-pin jumpers on PWRHLD, LPM and HPM pins, as well as software control using the I2C Monitor GUI.
The MCP16503 is an optimally integrated PMIC, for general purpose eMPUs (Embedded Microprocessor Units), requiring Dynamic Voltage Scaling (DVS). The regulators' startup voltages are adjustable using selection resistors and the regulators can be fully adjusted by using I2C.
The MCP16503 integrates four DC-DC buck regulators and two auxiliary LDOs, and provides a comprehensive interface to the MPU, which includes an interrupt flag and a 1 MHz I2C interface.
All buck channels can support loads up to 1A and are capable of operating at a 100% duty cycle.
Two 300 mA LDOs are provided to support sensitive analog loads.
Unlike MCP16502, the MCP16503 comes with a simple logic level EN pin, which simplifies the start-up procedure, being able to start even when the input voltage ramps slowly or when the input voltage is unstable and suddenly drops below UVLO. After the initial Start-up, the PMIC can be shutdown and started by the MPU, using the PWRHLD pin.
The default power channel sequencing is built-in according to the requirements of the MPU, starting from buck1 and LDOx, buck2, buck3 and buck4. A dedicated pin (LPM) facilitates the transition to Low-Power mode and the implementation of Backup mode with DDR in self-refresh (Hibernate mode).
The MCP16503 features a low no-load operational quiescent current and it draws less than 10 μA in full shutdown.
Active discharge resistors are provided on each output. All buck channels support safe start-up into pre-biased outputs.
The MCP16503 is available in a 32-pin 5 mm x 5 mm VQFN package with an operating junction temperature range from –40 °C to +125 °C.