Nanopower Semiconductor Launches nPZ2100, Expanding the nPZero Family of Ultra-Low-Power ICs

­Nanopower Semiconductor today announced the nPZ2100, the latest addition to its nPZero™ power-saving IC (PSIC) platform. Building on the nPZero architecture, the nPZ2100 enables battery-constrained sensor systems to operate with an ultra-low-power companion IC that can manage sensors and peripherals autonomously while keeping the host MCU powered down until it is genuinely needed.

With typical idle consumption of just 200 nA at 3.0 V and polling consumption of 1 µA, the nPZ2100 can autonomously manage up to six independent peripherals through I²C or SPI, with four integrated 1 mA peripheral power switches and a dedicated 10 mA host power switch. The device operates across an industrial temperature range of −40°C to +85°C.

As more processing and AI intelligence moves to the edge, managing power becomes just as important as delivering processing performance. High-performance MCUs, wireless SoCs and AI accelerators can consume significant energy, yet many applications only need this processing capability intermittently.

The nPZ2100 provides an ultra-low-power layer of system control around these power-hungry devices, monitoring sensors, analogue signals, timing and system events, and waking the host only when required. Its 256-byte SRAM, 8-bit three-channel ADC, 32-bit global time counter with alarm, watchdog and general-purpose event counter, together with power-aware operation for energy harvesting, give designers the tools to build systems around a simple principle: sense, decide, wake and process – rather than keeping the main processor running continuously.

The nPZ2100 can also power down peripherals when they are not required, helping eliminate their idle power consumption as well as reducing host MCU wake-ups. By taking over sensor communication and system monitoring while the host is powered off, the nPZ2100 can significantly reduce the host's active time and overall system energy consumption.

The nPZ2100 is designed to help extend battery life, reduce maintenance requirements, enable smaller power sources and create new opportunities for energy-harvesting and intelligent edge devices. Its power-aware operation can reduce sensor polling frequency and MCU wake-ups and maximise system power budgets.

With the EU Battery Regulation's requirements for the removability and replaceability of portable batteries applying from 18 February 2027, the nPZ2100 can also help designers extend the operating life between battery changes, reducing the frequency of battery replacement while supporting more energy-efficient product designs.

The device is suited to a broad range of applications, including wireless IoT sensors, smart home and building devices, asset tracking and monitoring, electronic shelf labels, and wearables. It can also be used in remote controls and human-interface devices, security and monitoring products, battery-powered industrial sensors, consumer electronics, and energy-harvesting systems.

The nPZ2100 represents another step towards Nanopower's vision of making intelligent, ultra-low-power power management an essential part of the next generation of connected and AI-enabled edge systems. “Battery life is a system problem,” said Svein-Egil Nielsen, CEO of Nanopower Semiconductor. “Even a processor with excellent sleep current can waste significant energy in sleep as well as being woken thousands of times a day to check for events that do not matter. With nPZero, our goal is simple: keep the processor off until there is something worth processing.”

Availability

The nPZ2100 datasheet, product information document (PID), and associated early development resources are available through Nanopower's development portal. Development kits, engineering samples and nPZero 2100 Development “Stamps” are planned to be available from September 2026, giving customers and partners the opportunity to begin evaluating the technology and developing applications ahead of the full product release and volume manufacturing planned for Q2 2027. More information is available here.