April 26, 2024 
Professional magazine and portal dedicated to electronics 
System architects seeking backup power using supercapacitor or other energy sources can now deliver the best combination of highest efficiency and smallest size with the Continua™ MAX38889 2.5V-to-5.5V, 3A reversible buck/boost regulator from Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. The latest addition to Maxim’s Continua™ family of backup regulators delivers the industry’s tightest output regulation of 2.5 percent to support critical applications that demand high accuracy.
The MAX38889 features 94 percent peak efficiency, 9 percent higher than the closest competitive solution, allowing it to support longer backup time. Additionally, at one-third the size, it enables easier integration into space-constrained designs.
In applications such as smart utility meters or automotive dashboard cameras, the MAX38889 Continua regulator operates in buck mode to charge a backup power source, such as a supercapacitor. When main power goes away, the regulator reverses direction automatically, boosting the supercapacitor voltage to power the system, until main power is restored.
