Power management integrated circuits (power management ICs or PMICs or PMU as unit) are integrated circuits for power management. Although PMIC refers to a wide range of chips (or modules in system-on-a-chip devices), most include several DC/DC converters or their control part. A PMIC is often included in battery-operated devices (such as mobile phone, portable media players) and embedded devices (such as routers) to decrease the amount of space required.
A PMIC on the inside. This is a die shot of an Apple 338S1164 PMIC manufactured by Dialog Semiconductors.Die shot of a MxL7704 PMIC from a Raspberry Pi 3B+, made by MaxLinear
Overview
The term PMIC refers to a class of integrated circuits that perform various functions related to power requirements.
A PMIC may have one or more of the following functions:[1]
Power management ICs are solid state devices that control the flow and direction of electrical power. Many electrical devices use multiple internal voltages (e.g., 5 V, 3.3 V, 1.8 V, etc.) and sources of external power (e.g., wall outlet, battery, etc.), meaning that the power design of the device has multiple requirements for operation. A PMIC can refer to any chip that is an individual power related function, but generally refer to ICs that incorporate more than one function such as different power conversions and power controls such as voltage supervision and undervoltage protection. By incorporating these functions into one IC, a number of improvements to the overall design can be made such as better conversion efficiency, smaller solution size, and better heat dissipation.[2]
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