Power Management Chip from STMicroelectronics Includes Battery Charger Control

Business Wire, March 18, 2002

Business Editors

GENEVA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 2002

Complete System-on-chip Targets Mobile Terminals and Other Low

Power Battery Products

STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM) has introduced the STw4101 power management chip that integrates all of the functions required for managing battery power and charger control in digital cellular handsets and other battery powered mobile applications where power and performance requirements are similar.

Housed in a 6x6mm TPGBA package, the STw4101 includes six low dropout (LDO) analog regulators to supply radio frequency (RF) circuits, the baseband chip, audio chip, vibrator and other functions. Two of these LDOs are mask adjustable, two are programmable through an I2C bus and two provide general-purpose fixed supply voltages for 3 and 3.3V supplies. These LDOs require only a 1uF ceramic capacitor. Also included is a programmable dc-dc stepdown converter that can be used to power the baseband and audio LDOs, increasing efficiency.

The STw4101's battery charging function controls the gate voltage of an external P-channel MOSFET and performs constant voltage and constant current charging for Lithium ion batteries. This function is an independent state machine capable of managing the battery charge operation independently of the microcontroller.

A variety of supporting functions are also integrated in the STw4101, including drivers for a keypad, backlight, buzzer driver and LED indicator switch. A SIM card supply with level shifters is also provided. Most of the functions of the STw4101 are controlled by writing and reading to on-chip registers through an I2C serial interface.

STMicroelectronics is a leading producer of integrated circuits for mobile phones with a product range that includes high performance RF, Digital Baseband and Mixed-Signal application specific integrated circuits, Flash and EEPROM memories, smartcard ICs, protection devices, integrated passive components and battery charger. Through products developed for digital consumer, automotive and audio markets ST also has hardware and software know-how for the multimedia functions that will be used in next generation wireless terminals. These functions include video cameras, Bluetooth radios, voice recognition, digital music decoding and biometric verification.

Further information on this device can be found at www.st.com/wireless

About STMicroelectronics

STMicroelectronics, the world's third largest independent semiconductor company, is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence markets. The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on Euronext Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 2001, the Company's net revenues were $6.36 billion and net earnings were $257.1 million. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com.