12V step-down DC/DC converter’s low quiescent current saves power for industrial and higher powered portable applications

June 27, 2007
Date Announced: 27 Jun 2007 Many applications, even in non-battery powered systems, spend the majority of their life in a stand-by mode consuming only milliamps or microamps of current from their power supply. AnalogicTech’s AAT1162 DC/DC converter’s extremely low quiescent current significantly lowers the system’s total stand-by mode current consumption, thereby improving total power efficiency and enabling designers to more easily achieve green certifications.The AAT1162 is the first in a family of synchronous step-down DC/DC converters designed to operate from a 12V input and deliver up to 1.5A to 5V or lower outputs. Consuming an extremely low 115µA quiescent current, the converter reduces power usage for a wide range of 12V industrial applications as well as higher powered portable systems operating from dual-cell Lithium-ion/polymer batteries. The 12V step-down converter operates across an input range of 4.0V to 13.2V and delivers up to 1.5A of current. Output voltage is fixed or adjustable from 0.6V to VIN. Efficiency levels range up to 96%. A combined PWM/light load mode helps maximise efficiency over the entire load range. Operating at a high 800kHz switching frequency, the AAT1162 uses relatively small external components, thereby minimising total solution size.Soft start control limits input surge current and eliminates output voltage overshoot at startup. The device also features current limit and over-temperature protection. The AAT1162 is manufactured in AnalogicTech’s ModularBCD process technology. Unlike aging linear-IC legacy fabs or generic digital CMOS foundries, the ModularBCD process represents the first of a new generation of analogue, power and mixed-signal IC technologies especially created for high-tech wafer fabrication and optimised for manufacture in ex-DRAM fabs. The new process makes single-chip, mixed-signal and system ICs both more technically and economically feasible by monolithically integrating fully-isolated CMOS at 3V, 5V, and 12V with high-speed complementary bipolar transistors and robust 30V DMOS power devices without resorting to highly complex and expensive techniques such as epitaxy or high-temperature diffusion. As a result, devices manufactured in ModularBCD offer higher efficiency, smaller size, and higher levels of integration than devices fabricated in traditional processes, and can better manage power and extend battery life in a wide range of mobile consumer electronics products such as cell phones, portable media players, tablet and laptop computers and digital cameras. The AAT1162 is qualified across the -40 to +85 degrees centigrade temperature range and comes in a Pb-free, 16-pin, 3x4mm TDFN package.

Contact
Phil Dewsbury, Advanced Analogic Technologies, Inc., Europe Newbury, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1189 657763

E-mail:[email protected]

Web Site:www.analogictech.com