Renesas Unveils High-Performance RAA489300/RAA489301 Triple-Phase Buck Controllers for USB-C Battery Charging and Voltage Regulation
August 20, 2025, Tokyo, Japan – Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), a global leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced the launch of its latest high-performance triple-phase buck controllers, the RAA489300 and RAA489301. These innovative controllers leverage a triple-phase buck topology designed specifically for USB-C systems, delivering efficient battery charging and voltage regulation. They are ideal for applications such as multi-port USB-PD chargers, portable power stations, PC docks, robotics, drones, and other systems requiring highly efficient DC/DC controllers. This launch underscores Renesas’ leadership in power management technology and provides customers with solutions that combine compact size, high efficiency, and superior reliability.
The RAA489300 and RAA489301 adopt a triple-phase buck topology that offers significant advantages over traditional two-phase buck converters. By integrating two additional switches and a flying capacitor, this architecture significantly reduces voltage stress on the switches, allowing designers to use low-voltage field-effect transistors (FETs) with superior quality factors. This design approach reduces conduction and switching losses, enhancing overall system efficiency. Compared to conventional two-phase designs, the triple-phase topology allows for smaller inductors, with peak-to-peak ripple currents reduced to approximately 25% of that in a two-phase converter. This not only lowers magnetic core and DC resistance losses but also substantially reduces the overall system footprint, making it particularly attractive for compact, high-performance applications such as portable chargers and small form-factor power solutions.
From a technical standpoint, the RAA489300 and RAA489301 incorporate Renesas’ advanced R3™ technology (Robust Ripple Regulator), ensuring high efficiency under both light and heavy load conditions while providing rapid transient response and seamless DCM/CCM switching. This capability allows the controller to maintain stable output voltage even when the downstream load changes quickly—a critical feature for applications like portable power stations, drones, and robotics, where frequent load switching is common and power stability is crucial.
These controllers also offer broad input and output compatibility, supporting a wide range of battery configurations and USB PD adapters, making them highly adaptable across diverse applications. For example, the RAA489301 supports 2S to 5S battery configurations with different chemistries and can safely convert USB PD adapter input to regulated output voltages up to 24V. This flexibility allows the devices to serve applications ranging from lightweight portable electronics to high-power industrial systems. Furthermore, the integrated multi-level safety features, including overcharge protection, over-temperature protection, and voltage anomaly safeguards, ensure reliable and safe operation under various conditions, giving designers greater confidence in deploying these devices in demanding environments.
In terms of power efficiency, the RAA489300 and RAA489301 utilize an optimized switching architecture that distributes voltage across power switches, minimizing energy losses. Low quiescent current design further enhances environmental sustainability, reduces energy consumption, and extends battery life, all while achieving high power density. The excellent thermal performance of these controllers reduces cooling requirements, providing greater flexibility for compact system designs. This is particularly beneficial for applications with stringent space constraints and strict thermal management requirements, where heat dissipation can be a limiting factor.
Renesas also provides extensive development support for these controllers, including the RTK-251-SinkCharger-240W kit and the RTKA489300DE0000BU evaluation board. These tools enable rapid design validation, accelerating product development timelines and reducing time to market. In addition, Renesas offers more than 400 “success combinations” encompassing multiple devices within its portfolio. These pre-validated device combinations help customers achieve low-risk, high-efficiency system designs, minimizing development effort and technical challenges. The availability of such comprehensive support allows customers to deliver high-performance USB-C power products in a highly competitive market with reduced design complexity and risk.
The RAA489300 and RAA489301 have significant application potential. Beyond conventional USB-PD chargers and portable power stations, they are suitable for PC docking stations, robotics, drones, power tools, industrial automation equipment, and high-end consumer electronics. These applications demand high efficiency, robust thermal performance, and reliable power management. The innovative triple-phase design ensures that these requirements are met by reducing energy losses, minimizing heat generation, and allowing compact, space-efficient layouts. High-power, high-density applications, in particular, benefit from the ability to maintain high efficiency while reducing thermal stress, which improves system reliability and performance.
From a broader industry perspective, the rapid global adoption of USB-C and USB-PD standards is driving increased expectations for power delivery systems in terms of efficiency, speed, and reliability. Users demand faster charging, higher efficiency, and safe operation, while portable devices and multi-port adapters face tighter space constraints. In this context, the introduction of high-efficiency, compact triple-phase buck controllers represents a crucial advancement in power management design. The RAA489300 and RAA489301 are specifically engineered to meet these evolving market requirements, providing both a technical edge and a strategic advantage to designers.
Renesas’ extensive experience and leadership in the USB-PD field further reinforce the reliability of its solutions. Pre-certified USB-IF reference designs and a comprehensive development ecosystem allow customers to shorten design cycles while ensuring compliance with global safety and quality standards. This end-to-end support—from chip-level design to complete system solutions—enables designers to confidently develop high-performance USB-C power products efficiently and securely.
Looking ahead, the RAA489300 and RAA489301 not only strengthen Renesas’ competitive position in the power management market but also provide the industry with a benchmark for innovation. Their triple-phase buck topology, advanced control techniques, wide input/output compatibility, low power consumption, and excellent thermal performance set new standards for compact, high-efficiency power systems. Customers benefit from the ability to bring high-performance products to market quickly, gaining a competitive advantage in rapidly growing consumer electronics and industrial automation sectors.
Both controllers are packaged in a compact 4×4 mm, 32-pin TQFN form factor, suitable for high-density PCB layouts. The RAA489300 supports an input voltage range of 4.5V to 57.6V, with an adjustable output voltage range of 3V to 54.912V, a programmable switching frequency up to 400 kHz (with an effective switch-node frequency of 800 kHz), and an integrated charge pump providing 5V or 10V gate drive. The RAA489301 supports 2S to 5S battery configurations and safely converts USB PD adapter inputs to regulated outputs up to 24V. It features independent input voltage, input current, output voltage, and output current control loops, making it suitable as a pre-regulator for CPU rail systems. Both devices support forward and reverse power-through modes, soft-start functionality, and comprehensive protection mechanisms, including overcurrent, overvoltage, undervoltage, and overtemperature protection, as well as SMBus and I²C communication interfaces.
Gaurang Shah, Senior Vice President of Renesas’ Power Business Unit, emphasized that the triple-phase buck solution exemplifies Renesas’ global leadership in battery charging technology. “This innovative, patent-pending technology offers our customers significant advantages over competing USB-C power products,” Shah said. “It enables higher efficiency, smaller footprints, and enhanced reliability, demonstrating our commitment to advancing power management innovation worldwide.”
In conclusion, the RAA489300 and RAA489301 represent a major technological breakthrough in power management. Their high-efficiency triple-phase design, advanced control features, broad input/output flexibility, safety protections, exceptional thermal performance, and low power consumption make them ideal for portable charging devices, PC docks, robotics, drones, and other high-performance applications. With comprehensive development support and pre-validated success combinations, Renesas empowers customers to accelerate design cycles, reduce risk, and bring superior products to market quickly. These controllers are not only a testament to Renesas’ engineering innovation but also a key milestone in advancing USB-C power solutions toward higher efficiency, reliability, and compactness.