Intersil Announces a New Highly Integrated Linear Battery Charger Desi

Intersil Announces a New Highly Integrated Linear Battery Charger Designed for Small Capacity Single-cell Li-ion or Li-polymer Batteries

    Business Editors/High-Tech Editors

    MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 3, 2005--

ISL6298 is Ideally Suited for Mini-Disk Players, Bluetooth(TM) Headsets, MP3 Players and Other Ultra-Portables That Have Small Capacity Batteries
    Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ:ISIL), a world leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog solutions, announced today a new single-cell battery charger optimized for low current applications that use low-capacity Li-ion or Li-polymer battery cells. The highly integrated ISL6298 provides high-accuracy charge current regulation at low current and incorporates the pass-element, current sense function, reverse blocking diode function and self-termination timer. This high level of integration brings extra value to manufacturers by reducing the PCB area - a premium in ultra-portable devices such as test and medical equipment.
    The low-capacity cells used in applications such as Bluetooth headsets require optimized charge current accuracy at charge currents as low as 75mA. High accuracy is needed to ensure charge times are not excessively long. The charge current is trimmed to have better than 10 percent accuracy at 250mA and is programmable up to 450mA. Charge voltage is regulated at 4.2V +/-1 percent. The ISL6298 also provides basic termination capability, temperature protection and a built-in safety timer.
    The ISL6298 features Thermaguard(TM) technology, a charge current thermal fold-back feature, important in space-limited designs where thermal dissipation is high. This feature guarantees safe operation of these devices by limiting the die temperature to 107 degrees C through the automatic reduction of charge current. Additional features include a negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistor interface for monitoring the ambient temperature and the ability to disable the time limit of the fast charge.

    ISL6298 Features

--	Complete charger for single-cell Li-ion or Li-polymer batteries
--	Integrated pass element and current sensor
--	No external blocking diode required
--	1 percent voltage accuracy
--	Programmable current limit up to 450mA
--	Programmable end-of-charge current
--	Preconditioning with 20 percent fast charge current
--	10 percent accuracy at 250mA
--	Charge current thermal fold-back
--	NTC thermistor interface for battery temperature monitor
--	User programmable safety timer
--	Ambient temperature range: -20 degrees C to 70 degrees C

    The ISL6298 is available now in standard lead finish and Pb-free, in either a 16-lead thermally-enhanced 4 mm X 4 mm QFN package or a 3 mm X 3 mm DFN package. The suggested price in 10,000 unit quantities is $0.95 for each IC. For additional information on the ISL6298, visit Intersil's web site at: http://www.intersil.com/cda/deviceinfo/0,0,ISL6298,0.html

    About Intersil

    Intersil Corporation, a Nasdaq 100 Index company, is a leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog semiconductors. The company's products address three of the industry's fastest growing markets: flat panel displays, optical storage (CD and DVD recordable) and power management. Intersil products include power management devices for battery management, hot-swap and hot-plug controllers, linear regulators, supervisory ICs, switching DC-DC regulators and power MOSFET drivers; optical storage laser diode drivers; DSL line drivers; video and high performance operational amplifiers; data converters; interface ICs; analog switches and multiplexers; crosspoint switches; voice-over-IP devices; and ICs for military, space and rad-hard applications. For more information about Intersil or to find out how to become a member of our winning team, visit the company's web site and career page at http://www.intersil.com.

    This release may include "forward-looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. For information identifying economic, political, climatic, currency, regulatory, technological, competitive and some other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, see Intersil's Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statement disclaimer found at http://www.intersil.com/legal.asp, as well as Intersil's SEC filings as updated from time to time, found at http://www.sec.gov.

    Thermaguard is a trademark of Intersil Americas Inc.

    Bluetooth is a trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc.

    All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

--30--JD/mi*

CONTACT: Intersil Corporation, Palm Bay, Fla. John Allen, 321-729-4928 E-Mail: jallen02@intersil.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS TELECOMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE NETWORKING PRODUCT SOURCE: Intersil Corporation

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