Power Loss Protection Integrated Circuit With Autonomous Capacitor Health Check

An integrated circuit comprising:

• an input voltage terminal (VIN);
• an output voltage terminal (VOUT);
• a current switch circuit;
• a storage capacitor terminal (STR);
• a switch terminal (SW);
• a feedback terminal (FB);
• a buck/boost controller coupled to the switch terminal SW and to the feedback terminal FB;
• and
• an autonomous capacitor health check circuit adapted to sink a current from the storage capacitor terminal STR.

An integrated circuit, comprising:

• a first terminal;
• a second terminal;
• an eFuse circuit that can receive a current from the first terminal and can conduct the current to the second terminal in a non-fault condition, and that is adapted to decouple the first terminal from the second terminal in a fault condition;
• a third terminal;
• a fourth terminal;
• and
• an autonomous capacitor health check circuit adapted to perform a capacitor health check operation, wherein a capacitor health check operation involves sinking a current from the fourth terminal for a predetermined time duration, and during the predetermined time duration detecting whether a voltage on the fourth terminal drops below a predetermined threshold voltage.

An integrated circuit, comprising:

• an eFuse circuit;
• a boost controller;
• a terminal;
• and
• means for performing periodic autonomous capacitor health check operations on a capacitor coupled to the terminal, wherein a capacitor health check operation involves conducting a current from the terminal and detecting a voltage on the terminal.