TI Introduces 200mA Linear Regulators With Auto Low-Power Mode

Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) introduced a family of 200mA, low dropout regulators (LDOs), which offer an auto low-power mode that combines ultra-low quiescent current of less than 8µA with fast transient response while maintaining low noise and a high power supply rejection ratio (PSRR). According to the company, with 70% lower quiescent current than existing solutions, the new LDOs will help increase battery runtime without sacrificing performance in noise-sensitive applications, such as smart phones, MP3 players, RF modules, remote controls, ZigBee® network systems and handheld consumer devices.

Typical high-performance LDOs require the load quiescent current to be 25µA or less. Auto low-power mode allows the TPS727xx to achieve less than 8µA without an additional mode pin and automatically switches to and from low power depending on load current. In addition, the use of auto low-power mode eliminates the need to modify software drivers to control the mode pin, which speeds and simplifies the design process. It also reduces cost by eliminating the need for a general purpose input/output (GPIO) pin and overhead firmware.

Key features and benefits include: low-power operation with auto low-power mode, ultra-low quiescent current of 8µA, fast transient response ±50mV for 200mA, low noise 32uVRMS and high PSRR 70dB at 1kHz helps increase battery runtime without sacrificing noise; enables use of small 1.0µF ceramic capacitors, which allows for a smaller overall solution; provides low dropout of 130mV, plus stable and accurate output voltage range of 0.9-5V, which increases system reliability; and factory EEPROM programming of the output voltage provides the flexibility to quickly sample and release custom V_OUT versions.

The TPS727xx is available now in a 1.5 x 1.5mm SON-6 package and a 0.8 x 1.22mm, 0.4mm pitch, 4-ball wafer chip-scale (WCSP) package. It is priced at $0.48 in quantities of 1,000.