New evaluation board from Rohm, for ultra-compact mounting
Rohm has developed a new evaluation board, the BD83070GWL-EVK-002. It is designed to fully demonstrate the features of the BD83070GWL DC-DC converter IC, which combines high efficiency with ultra-low current consumption.
In recent years, battery-powered electronic devices-such as wearables, mobile devices, and IoT devices have become ubiquitous in everyday life. The components used in these devices require not only miniaturisation to improve design aesthetics and enable new features, but also to reduce power consumption in order to extend battery life. ROHM has continued to develop power supply ICs to meet these market demands.
The BD83070GWL is a buck-boost DC-DC converter IC developed with the goal of becoming a “definitive low-power eco-device” for electronic devices powered by small batteries and other limited power sources. It achieves high efficiency of up to 97% and an ultra-low quiescent current of 2.8 µA.
The newly developed evaluation board was designed to achieve the smallest possible footprint for a buck-boost DC-DC converter, a key requirement for small battery-powered devices. By integrating the BD83070GWL with a coil, capacitors, and a total of only five components, it achieves an ultra-compact mounting area of 12.87 mm2 (3.3 × 3.9 mm). As a result, it offers a significant advantage in terms of mounting area compared to conventional buck-boost DC-DC IC configurations, including those with built-in coils. Furthermore, as a reference design, design resources such as circuit patterns and the bill of materials (BOM) are publicly available, enabling a smooth transition from evaluation to mass production design.
Application Examples
• Wearable devices: smartwatches, smart rings, biometric sensing devices, etc.
• Mobile devices: AR/VR devices, smartphones, etc.
• IoT devices: AI sensor nodes, BLE devices, smart locks, small drones, etc.
• Small battery-powered devices: e-cigarettes, wireless earbuds, digital keys, electric toothbrushes, etc.
