LED drivers slim down for backlight duties

White LED drivers power high brightness LEDs in backlighting applications for cellular phones, digital cameras, MP3 players and other portable consumer electronics devices.

ON Semiconductor has introduced three new white LED drivers designed to drive high brightness LEDs in backlighting applications for cellular phones, digital cameras, MP3 players and other portable consumer electronics devices.

With up to 90% efficiency and an ultrathin 0.6mm package profile, the devices help designers meet the stringent power and board space budgets of today's battery-powered portable electronics.

"As a rule, driving an LED in a display for a portable application can be accomplished by either an inductive solution or a charge pump solution, but our customers have very clear preferences", said Marie Capron, ON Semiconductor's Business Director for Low Voltage Products.

"The inductive solution typically places LEDs in series, using a boost-type architecture".

"The charge pump solution has LEDs in parallel to eliminate the need for an inductor".

"To address the needs and preferences of all our portable product customers, we have expanded our LED driver portfolio to offer both, and provide key value-added features for circuit protection and to save valuable board space".

The NCP5010 supplies up to 22V typical to power a series of two to five white LEDs for LCD backlighting applications.

Delivering up to 84% efficiency and 1uA shutdown current, the NCP5010 operates on input voltages from 2.7 to 5.5V.

It features true cutoff, short-circuit and overvoltage protection, and offers undervoltage lock-out.

This space-saving device is offered in a flip-chip package - which uses less than 3mm2 of board space and requires only 0.6mm of profile room.

Its compact size makes it ideal for use in the thinnest of portable products.

The 1MHz frequency of the device's integral pulsewidth modulation (PWM) boost convertor and the integration of a Schottky rectifier enables board designs to be optimised for small inductors and capacitors - saving additional board space.

The NCP5604A and NCP5604B drive three and four LEDs, respectively, at up to 25mA of current per LED.

Current matching tolerances of 0.5% ensure excellent uniform LED brightness.

Delivering up to 90% efficiency and less than 1uA quiescent current, these devices operate on input voltages from 2.7 to 5.5V and feature unique short-circuit and overvoltage protection.

Both the NCP5604A and NCP5604B are offered in a thin profile QFN package (WQFN) that requires only 0.8mm of profile room - making it ideal for ultraslim phone form factor where space is at a premium.

The NCP5010 is offered in a Pb-free, 8-pin, 1.7 x 1.7 x 0.6mm flip-chip package.

It is priced at $0.67 per unit in 3000-unit quantities.

The NCP5604A is offered in a Pb-free WQFN-16 package and priced at $0.69 per unit in 3000-unit quantities.

The NCP5604B is offered in a Pb-free WQFN-16 package and priced at $0.66 per unit in 3000-unit quantities.

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