ST Brings VBUS-Powered Controller for 5V USB-C Charging Applications

French-Italian multinational electronics and semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics (ST) has introduced new member ‘STUSB4500L’ to it’s USB-C controller IC family designed and certified for pure 5V sink-only applications.

The company said that in this newly introduced device all the mandatory features are integrated to use the USB-C connector as a 5V universal power plug, allowing designers to implement USB-C charging solutions quickly and easily without studying the standard or writing code.

Moreover, USB-C is rapidly becoming established as a replacement for Micro-B or Mini-B plugs, for both power and data connections, as it offers the advantages of reversible orientation and greater robustness — up to 10,000 connect/disconnect cycles, it added.

It is a stand-alone, plug-and-play interface product, targeting low-voltage applications such as Bluetooth speakers, computer accessories, Wi-Fi access points, point-of-sale equipment, LED lighting, and USB dongles.

Besides, it can also be used for powering equipment such as single-board computers and hardware development kits. The controller IC runs without additional code and requires no external support from the microcontroller, which eases adoption of the USB-C connector standard by saving time-consuming design work.

Moreover, it is an auto-powered via VBUS from the connected source and does not need to be supplied from a local battery or on-board power. Zero leakage current prevents draining the battery when not charging. Input over-voltage protection prevents low-voltage equipment being damaged if it is incorrectly connected, for example, to a 20V source from a USB PD AC adapter rather than the required 5V supply.

The STUSB4500L’s further features include ‘dead-battery’ support to ensure correct identification by the source when the battery is fully discharged, true cold-socket implementation which keeps the VBUS switch open by default until safe 5V input power is supplied, source power-budget identification and error-recovery support to ensure correct re-starting when a fault is triggered.

Meanwhile, this ‘STUSB4500L’ is in the production now, in a choice of 4mm x 4mm QFN-24 package or 2.6mm x 2.6mm CSP-25 chip-scale package, priced from USD 0.70 and USD 0.75 respectively for orders of 1,000 pieces.