Toshiba introduces three low-power Bluetooth chips

Source: Toshiba. The TC35678FSG.

Toshiba Corporation's Storage & Electronic Devices Solutions Company has launched three new ICs that support Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) ver.4.1 communications, aimed at wearable devices for healthcare applications and small devices that use coin batteries such as sensors and toys.


At 3V supply voltage, the TC35678FSG, TC35678FXG and TC35679FSG consume just under half the power of the earlier TC35667FTG, on par with the lowest in the industry*. A highly-efficient DC-DC converter, also used in other products in the family, and an original low-power circuit design are responsible for a nearly 46% current reduction and peak current consumption of 3.6 milliamps (mA) at 3V supply voltage in transmitting mode, the company said. 

Both TC35678FXG and TC35678FSG incorporate built-in Flash ROM to store user programs and data in standalone operations. The memory capacity for user programs is now 100 KB in both ICs, up from 64 KB in previous products.

A built-in Flash ROM eliminates the need for an external EEPROM** component, previously required for standalone operations. This has contributed to cost and mounting-area reductions since there are fewer external parts.

The TC35678FXG is a repackaged TC35678FSG in a QFN60*** package that extends the number of general purpose input/output (IO) channels from 16 to 32. It is suitable for equipment that requires a large number of control pins such as keyboards and remote-controllers. 

The TC35679FSG has no built-in flash ROM and can achieve extremely low current operations by reducing current consumption for access to flash ROM. It is ideal for achieving long operating times for applications powered by small coin batteries. For example, the IC can operate beacons for over a year with a standard CR2032 type coin battery****.

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Sample shipments are available, with mass production scheduled to start by end-2016 for TC35678FXG and in early 2017 for the other two ICs.  

*Products with the same ratings (current consumption of 3.6 mA at 3V in transmitting mode with 0dBm) are the lowest in the industry as of July 14, 2016, Toshiba survey.
**EEPROM is electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, memory that can be altered. ***QFN stands for the quad flat no-lead format. QFN60 formats have a lead pitch of 0.6mm.
****Calculated with a 220mAh battery and two-second beacon interval time.