New Industry Products

Microsemi Announces Two New Series of LDO BiCMOS Regulators

August 06, 2000 by Jeff Shepard

Microsemi Corp. (Santa Ana, CA) has announced that its Linfinity Division has added two new series of high-current, LDO BiCMOS regulators to its lineup of power-management ICs. Designated the LX8610 and LX8630 Series, the LDO devices are used to provide regulated power to microprocessors, memory chips and clock circuits found in many desktop and portable computing and electronic appliance applications, including peripheral cards, PCMCIA cards and 2.5V supplies on motherboards.

According to Microsemi, LDO regulators are proving to be a cost-effective alternative to complex switching regulators in many applications. The new series, rated at 1A to 3A, feature low quiescent current and a logic-controlled shutdown circuit that together conserve battery life and increase an application's power efficiency. The devices also provide thermal and short-circuit protection for the chips to which they supply power.

Designed with BiCMOS technology, the LX8610 regulators produce a typical dropout voltage of 250mV at 1A, while the LX8630 produces a typical dropout voltage of 450mV at 3A. Both series are available with a voltage output fixed at 3.3V or 2.5V, or with adjustable voltage output. The LX8610 fixed-voltage models come in a choice of two industry-standard surface-mount packages, the three-pin SOT-223 or the eight-pin SOIC. The adjustable model has an eight-pin SOIC package. The LX8630 is available in TO-220 and TO-263 power packages with fixed-output versions having three leads, and the adjustable one with five leads. Both series are available for immediate sampling, with volume deliveries to begin later this quarter.