ROHM has introduced the BD83070GWL-EVK-002, a new evaluation board built to showcase the BD83070GWL buck-boost DC-DC converter in an ultra-compact layout. The ROHM BD83070GWL DC-DC converter IC combines high efficiency with ultra-low quiescent current and targets applications in battery-powered wearables, mobile devices, and connected audio designs. The Japanese company is also making the design resources public, easing the move from development to production.
ROHM has introduced the BD83070GWL-EVK-002, a new evaluation board built to showcase the BD83070GWL buck-boost DC-DC converter in an ultra-compact layout. The ROHM BD83070GWL DC-DC converter IC combines high efficiency with ultra-low quiescent current and targets applications in battery-powered wearables, mobile devices, and connected audio designs. The Japanese company is also making the design resources public, easing the move from development to production.
In recent years, battery-powered electronic devices, such as wearables, mobile, and connected devices, have become ubiquitous in everyday life. The components used in these devices require not only miniaturization to improve design aesthetics and enable new features but also to reduce power consumption in order to extend battery life. ROHM continues to develop power supply ICs to meet these market demands.
The new evaluation board fits neatly into ROHM’s wider power-management lineup, where the company has long used evaluation boards and reference designs to help engineers accelerate development. The BD83070GWL is a synchronous buck-boost converter with integrated FETs, seamless buck-boost control, and power-supply features aimed at small, battery-driven devices.
What makes the new board notable is not just its size but the way it packages the technology. ROHM says the IC reaches up to 97% efficiency and only 2.8 microamperes of quiescent current, while the board’s compact implementation makes it easier to assess how that performance can translate into real products with tight space constraints. This is only part of a broader family of power-management evaluation boards from ROHM, including non-isolated buck, buck-boost, and compact-type designs.
By integrating the BD83070GWL with a coil, capacitors, and a total of only five components, it achieves an ultra-compact mounting area of 12.87mm2 (3.3 x 3.9mm). As a result, the board offers a significant advantage in terms of mounting area compared to conventional buck-boost DC-DC IC configurations, including those with built-in coils.
Target applications include the latest generation of wearable devices with AI sensor nodes, Bluetooth, etc. For these designs, buck-boost converters keep the supply voltage stable as the battery discharges, extending runtime and avoiding brownouts when the input falls below the required rail. They also let designers use the battery’s full voltage range more efficiently. That helps displays, radios, sensors, and microcontrollers stay within their operating window without wasting power in oversized regulation margins.
For audio product designs, buck-boost converters provide a wider usable supply range and keep designs simpler, valuable in circuits for portable speakers, wireless headphones, smart speakers, and battery-powered accessories where stable rails, compact size, and efficiency all matter. Predictable power delivery is essential to keep up with DSPs, wireless chips, codecs, and control logic.
Buck-boost converters also help designers handle ripple and transient response in audio circuits. A well-implemented design that pays attention to switching noise, reduces rail sag during bass hits, wireless transmission bursts, or backlight/current surges, while interleaving and mode control can lower ripple and improve efficiency across the operating range.
This new board from ROHM is now available for purchase online. In addition, reference design resources, including circuit layout data and the bill of materials (BOM), are publicly available, enabling a smooth transition from evaluation to mass-production design.
www.rohm.com
ROHM BD83070GWL buck-boost DC-DC converter typical application circuit.