Mixed Analog Power Solution Inc., a startup founded in May 2012, has teamed up with foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd. to create an inductive wireless power transfer receiver chip, which it claims operates at greater distance than rival's products.
MAPS (Gyenonggi-Do, South Korea) is a member of the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), which now operates under the name Rezence. It has worked with Tower (Migdal Haemek, Israel), which trades as TowerJazz, to use a 0.18-micron bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process to create the wireless power receiver for mobile products with an integrated rectifier. Tower's 0.18-micron BCD process combines digital CMOS, embedded non-volatile memory, and high voltage devices.
Resonant wireless power transfer offers greater distances between coils versus inductive charging, which requires tight coupling between transmitter and receiver. However while MAPS has achieved extended distances the energy transfer efficiency of its receiver stands at about 80 percent, according to Tower Semiconductor.
MAPS is sampling the product to smartphone and battery manufacturers and is working on system co-development. Chips are expected to be available in volume in the second quarter of 2014.
MAPS has been set up as a fabless chip company supplying ICs for mobile, lighting and automotive applications but with a main focus on wireless power conversion and wireless power charging
Tower said that the annual market for wireless power devices will exceed $15 billion by 2020 and that systems based on resonant wireless power transfer would account for more than 80 percent of that market.
"This offering is significant for both MAPS and TowerJazz as it is the leading product in the market that can possibly bring big production volume in the near future," said Shin Hyunick, CEO of MAPS, in a statement issued by Tower.
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