AnalogicTech Announces 12V Step-down DC-DC Converter
Advanced Analogic Technologies Inc. (AnalogicTech) announced the AAT1162 – 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, this new converter is claimed to reduce 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.
"Many applications, even in non-battery powered systems, spend the majority of their life in a stand-by mode consuming only mA or µA of current from their power supply," said Bill Weiss, Product Line Director for AnalogicTech. "The AAT1162’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 new 12V step-down converter operates across an input range of 4.0 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 maximize efficiency over the entire load range. Operating at a high 800 kHz switching frequency, the AAT1162 uses relatively small external components, thereby minimizing 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 analog, power and mixed-signal IC technologies especially created for high-tech wafer fabrication and optimized 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 3, 5, 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 are claimed to 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°C temperature range and comes in a Pb-free, 16-pin, 3x4-mm TDFN package. It sells for $0.94 each in 1,000 piece quantities.
