New Industry Products

Low EMI DC-DC Buck Regulators from Under 1A to 10A

July 24, 2018 by Paul Shepard

Allegro MicroSystems has announced the A8660, ARG81880, and ARG81801, the latest additions to their Regulators Portfolio. These devices reduce EMI through switching frequency dithering and allow system noise management though external clock synchronization.

These devices are AEC-Q100 Automotive Qualified, designed to operate over a wide input voltage range to withstand automotive stop/start, cold crank, and load dump conditions, and are also capable of switching at 2.2MHz for reduction in component size and cost. Comprehensive safety and protection features enable robust designs and simplify component qualification.

The devices cover a wide output current range (from sub 1A to 10A), provide tightly regulated supply rails across temperatures, and are targeted at automotive and industrial applications such as ADAS, HUD, telematics, infotainment, clusters, camera recorders, ECUs, smart appliances, industrial automation/robotics, IoT and others.  Reference designs and demo boards are available to simplify design and evaluation.

The A8660 synchronous buck controller can drive loads of up to 10A and addresses the constantly growing need for higher power in automobiles and industrial equipment. It features flexible power monitoring with adjustable rising delay for microcontroller reset and power sequencing.

A high voltage, battery-short tolerant enable input, combined with a second logic level input signal simplifies ignition input driven automotive designs. The A8660 is offered in a 4×4 QFN-20 wettable flank package with exposed power pad (suffix ES).

The ARG81880 saves board space and system cost as it requires only 3 external components. Selectable current limit minimizes inductor and capacitor size. Its 20 ns controllable on-time facilitates 18 V to 2.5 V conversion at 2 MHz without pulse skipping. It provides up to 800 mA of output current and is offered in a low-profile 10-pin 3×3 QFN exposed pad wettable flank package.

The ARG81801 provides good thermal performance for up to 3A designs, even on PCBs with no vias under the thermal pad, and is offered in a 4×4 QFN-24 exposed pad wettable flank package.