Maxim’s microprocessor supervisory circuits ensure that the voltage is at the optimal level for any controlling component in a design. Watching over microcontrollers, FPGAS, and ASICs, supervisory circuits are essential analog building blocks that contribute to overall design performance, reliability, and safety. When one of these power regulators or power supervisors detects that the voltage is at an unacceptable level, the circuit alerts the microcontroller to either reset or otherwise correct the problem before moving to the next step. Included in Maxim's portfolio are ultra-small, ultra-low-power nanoPower supervisory circuits that are ideal for portable, battery-powered devices that require long battery life.

An example of a highly accurate, low-voltage monitoring circuit is the MAX16134 microprocessor supervisor. These circuits monitor up to four system-supply voltages for undervoltage and overvoltage faults. They are fixed-threshold devices with high accuracy overtemperature and window threshold monitoring, which makes these circuits ideal for advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) applications. Another great example is the MAX6365H/MAX6365L/MAX6365P SOT23 microprocessor supervisors with battery backup and chip-enable gating. This family simplifies power-supply monitoring, battery-backup control functions, and memory write protection in microprocessor systems. They operate from V_CC supply voltages as low as 1.2 V, and are available in miniature 8-pin SOT23 packages.

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