Dutch semiconductor company Nexperia has introduced a series of AEC-Q100-qualified general-purpose low-dropout (LDO) voltage regulators that have ultra-low quiescent current, high tracking accuracy and protected outputs capable of direct connection to vehicle batteries.

The LDOs are thermally enhanced and can generate a stable voltage source under cold-crank conditions for ripple-sensitive loads in automotive applications including infotainment systems, ADAS, telematics and lighting systems. The tracking LDOs’ output protection enables use in body control modules, zone controller units and power train systems, even in scenarios involving off-board loads such as sensors.

Consuming just 5.3 μA (typical) quiescent current at light load and 300 nA (typical) shut-down current under disabled mode, the LDOs are suitable for powering always-on components like microcontrollers (MCUs), controller area network (CAN) or local interconnect network (LIN) transceivers in standby and CAN-wake systems.

The tracking LDOs further address off-board or off-PCB powered scenarios, such as powering sensors. For ratiometric sensing or measurement applications, the tracking LDOs deliver exceptional output accuracy, tracking supply voltages of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) or MCUs within ±5 mV.

The general LDOs generate a stable (±2% accuracy) 3 V or 5 V output from a wide input voltage range of 3-40 V, allowing them to be connected directly to a car battery without the requirement for additional pre-regulation. Integrated protection features include short-circuit, overcurrent and thermal shutdown and these LDOs can operate over a -40° C to 125° C (ambient) and -40° C to 150° C (junction) temperature range. The series also features devices with a power good (PG) output voltage status monitor that can be used to support functional safety-related system designs.

The NEX90x30-Q100 LDOs provide 300 mA of output current capability and are available in a choice of packages including the thermally enhanced, bottom-side cooled 8-pin HTSSOP package measuring 3 mm x 3 mm and a DFN6 package measuring only 2 mm x 2 mm.

For lower loading current applications, NEX90x15-Q100 devices with 150 mA output current capability are more cost-effective and offer flexible package choices of SOT23-5, SOT223-4 and HWSON6 (DFN-6). The tracking LDO NEX91207-Q100 has a 70 mA output current and comes in SOT23-5 and SOT23-5S packages.

Source: Nexperia