The company believes it is one of the first chips to support the Qi Extended Power industry standard for faster charging.

Wireless charging means users do not need to carry a charger or a bulky power bank to charge their electronic devices as fast as charging with a cable. Major mobile manufacturers are committing to wireless charging by joining the industry alliances and launching compatible products. The Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) that manages the Qi specification has introduced the Extended Power profile for faster charging. By raising the maximum charging power from five to 15W, this new profile enables devices to be charged up to three times more quickly.

Users can put their mobiles down to charge for a few minutes to charge and be confident that the smartphone or tablet is ready for use.

The controller consumes just 16mW in standby and is able to wirelessly transfer more than 80% of the total input power, with features such as enhanced active presence detection to wake the system quickly when a compatible object is presented for charging. The patented technology also enhances the performance of foreign object detection (FOD), to cut power and prevent over-heating if objects containing metals are brought too close to the charger

The integrated chip contains a step-up (boost) DC/DC converter and a controller, with the Qi charging algorithms already implemented in firmware to save any need to integrate software and an additional microcontroller in designs. The converter and controller generate the input power and the control signals for an external half-bridge power stage that drives the charging transmitter antenna. This architecture gives designers flexibility to optimise the external half bridge and its associated gate drivers for use with any supply voltage from 5.0 to 12V, and to ensure compatibility with USB quick chargers.

An evaluation kit, the STEVAL-ISB044V1, includes a 15W Qi MP-A10 reference design, a 12V 2A AC/DC adapter, a USB/UART dongle for connection to the PC and USB cable, and pre-loaded firmware. There is supporting documentation and a graphical PC-based configuration tool to help customise settings.

The company also offers a 15W receiver chip (STWLC33) for use in high-speed chargeable devices, which developers can use to complete their applications.

The STWBC-EP is available now, as a 32-lead QFN (5.0 x 5.0mm) device.