The MCP164GX1000 from Microchip Technology is a Power Management IC that has been specifically developed to act as a power companion for Microchip’s 64-bit RISC-V quad-core microprocessor PIC64GX1000. It requires an input voltage of 2.7-5.5 V and provides an output voltage from 0.6 V to 3.8 V (duty cycle – 100%). This power management IC (PMIC) consists of a system control circuit, LDO voltage regulators, 8 buck regulators, an LDO controller, MOSFETs, an oscillator, an interface, a timer, and built-in protection circuitries. The eight buck regulators can either be operated independently or paralleled in groups of four to support high current levels of up to 6 A. The buck channels are based on peak current mode architecture and use an internal frequency compensation for voltage regulation. It requires a 22 µF output capacitor for stable operation and allows the capacitance to be increased if necessary.

This PMIC’s buck channels operate either in forced pulse width modulation (PWM) or automatic pulse frequency modulation (PFM) mode, which determines whether the inductor is allowed to reach the negative level. The LDOs of this PMIC provide an output current of 300 mA and can also be cascaded in groups of two to improve overall conversion efficiency. The switching frequency of buck channels is set to 2 MHz by default, but can also be controlled via an I2C interface to accurately synchronize to an external clock. The PMIC uses internal feedback resistors to control the output voltage with high accuracy, which reduces part count and solution space. It is available in a surface-mount package that measures 8 x 8 mm.