New Industry Products

Micrel Increases the Operating Frequency of the MIC4690

July 15, 2001 by Jeff Shepard

Micrel Semiconductor Inc. (San Jose, CA) announced that it has increased the operating frequency of its SupwerSwitcher SO-8 buck regulator to 500KHz. The MIC4690, the newest member of the SuperSwitcher family, has an input range of 4V to 34V. It has a 1.3A output current and requires four external components.

The MIC4690 allows designs with built-in safety features such as a cycle-by-cycle current limit, frequency foldback, short-circuit protection and thermal shutdown. It is available in an adjustable output-voltage version, with fixed 3.3V and 5.0V output versions planned to be available soon. With up to 90-percent efficiency, the device is suitable for applications in distributed-power designs, hard-disk drives, battery chargers and positive-to-negative converters.

"The MIC4690 is ideal for applications where space is critical. Its high operating frequency allows the use of small inductors and capacitors. Its fused-power SO-8 leadframe allows over 1.3A of continuous output current, replacing bulky D2PAK and TO-220 packages," said Tony Grizelj, Micrel's marketing manager for power products.

The MIC4690 is priced at $2.30 in 1,000-piece quantities. Samples are available from stock, and production quantities are stock to 12 weeks ARO.