New Industry Products

Analog Devices Introduces Linear LDO Regulator Family Available In Small Package

September 29, 2008 by Jeff Shepard

Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) has introduced a family of high-performance LDO (low dropout) regulators that generates the low noise, low voltage supply rails and extended battery life required for what is described as superior performance in mobile handsets and other battery-powered devices.

The ADP120 and ADP121 LDOs are available in what is described as the industry’s smallest wafer-level chip scale package (WLCSP), as well as a standard TSOT option, offering design flexibility for high-performance, small form factor handsets. The ADP120, ADP121 and ADP130 LDOs are said to achieve very low levels of noise and power consumption, providing portable electronics designers with a power management solution optimized for their application needs.

The new devices are part of a family of low-noise LDOs that provide clean power to noise-sensitive mixed-signal ICs with supply currents below 350mA, while consuming only 11 to 24µA of quiescent current (Iq) and operating at output voltages as low as 1.2V. All three devices are stable with a very small 1µF ceramic output capacitor, eliminating the need for additional bypass capacitors. This reduces the amount of board space required as well as the bill-of-materials cost. The combination of signal integrity and low-power operation is said to allow designers of lithium-battery-powered devices, such as portable audio players, digital still cameras, handheld games and personal navigation systems, to quickly and cost-effectively resolve noise issues associated with dc power management. The very low Iq, along with a shutdown current in the nanoampere range, is said to help reduce parasitic drain on the battery when the application is turned off, expanding the power budget to extend battery life or allow operation of other system functions.

The ADP120 and ADP121 feature 60 dB PSR (power supply rejection) at 10kHz, while achieving noise figures of 40µV rms and consuming only 11µA , making them suitable to power RF and analog circuitry in portable applications. In addition, the ADP130 offers a unique dual-supply architecture that enables what is described as excellent low dropout performance when compared to single-supply devices. Leveraging this architecture, the ADP130 can be biased from a higher input supply, while the load current is sourced from a lower input supply to reduce overall power dissipation and enable low dropout operation.

The ADP120 and ADP121 LDOs feature a low 60mV dropout voltage for 100mA of load current. The ADP130 features an ultra-low 17mV dropout voltage, making it ideal for generating low output voltages for small geometry digital cores and processors used in devices such as camera modules.

The ADP120, ADP121 and ADP130 LDOs are available now in production quantities. In a 5-lead TSOT (thin, small-outline transistor) package, the ADP120 is $0.26, the ADP121 is $0.27 and the ADP130 is $0.33 in 1,000-unit quantities. The new ADP120 and ADP121 LDOs are also available in an ultra-small, 0.86 – 0.86mm 4-ball WLCSP (wafer-level chip scale package) option.