New Industry Products

MIC4680 surface mount dc-to-dc switching converter

September 26, 1999 by Jeff Shepard

Micrel Semiconductor (San Jose, CA) has recently introduced the MIC4680, claiming it is the industry's simplest surface mount dc-to-dc switching converter, providing more than 1A of output current with only four external components. This is the first member of the Super-Switcher family designed and developed by Micrel. Prior to the MIC4680, the only devices capable of providing the same amount of high output current were traditionally only available in large high power packages, such as the TO-220 and the TO-263. The MIC4680 is a true surface mount solution in an industry standard SO-8 surface mount package, according to Micrel. The MIC4680 has a rugged constitution: 4V to 34V input voltage; up to 1.3A output current; only four external components; output voltages of 5V, 3.3V and adjustable output voltages down to 1.25V; typical 1.5uA shutdown current; and up to 90 percent efficiency. The MIC4680BM in an SO-8 package is priced at $2.20 each in quantities of 1,000. Samples are available from stock, and production quantities are stock to 12 weeks ARO.