Product category:
Power Supply ICs and Controllers
News Release from: Catalyst Semiconductor | Subject: CAT3636
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 14 September 2006
Adaptive fractional charge pumps save
LED power
Charge pump architecture delivers high efficiency levels normally associated with inductor-based LED drivers, while eliminating the associated high-profile inductors and unwanted EMI.
Catalyst Semiconductor reckons it has taken LED driver performance to the next level with the announcement of its first chip in a new family of patent-pending Quad-Mode adaptive fractional charge pumps Capable of driving up to six white/colour LEDs, the CAT3636 is designed with Catalyst's innovative Quad-Mode switching architecture to give designers efficiency levels close to those of inductive boost convertors and the simplicity of charge pumps, without adding cost, components or board space
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 7 Feb 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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Catalyst Semiconductor's innovative, patent-pending Quad-Mode charge pump architecture delivers high efficiency levels normally associated with inductor-based LED drivers, while eliminating the associated high-profile inductors and unwanted EMI.
Most charge pump LED drivers today offer three modes of operation corresponding to the ratio of the output voltage to the input voltage: 1x, 1.5x and 2x.
The Quad-Mode architecture of the CAT3636 adds a fourth mode of operation, 1.33x, without the need for the additional capacitor required by all existing four-mode charge pumps.
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The 1.33x fractional operating mode also reduces the input switching currents seen at the battery, minimising the overall supply noise - a critical parameter in portable devices such as cellphones.
With the Quad-Mode switching architecture, the new CAT3636 delivers efficiency levels as high as 92% (lifetime average efficiency 84%), yet saves significant board space and costs.
The unmatched performance, space and cost-saving benefits of the CAT3636, combined with its tiny, 3 x 3mm, low-profile TQFN package provide a new alternative for designers of today's emerging, razor-thin portable products.
According to Scott Brown, Vice President of Marketing for Catalyst Semiconductor: "There are three considerations for designers of LED backlighting solutions for handheld products: sise, efficiency and cost".
"The CAT3636 manages to combine a best-in-class footprint with previously unheard-of efficiency at no price premium".
"We are very proud that our patent-pending Quad-Mode architecture has enabled us to achieve what many people previously thought was impossible".
The CAT3636 includes six LED current sinks configured into three separate banks, with each bank containing a pair of tightly regulated and matched output channels.
Fully featured programmability and dimming control is achieved via Catalyst's flexible single-wire EZDim programming interface (address and data), which allows LED banks to be individually and accurately set.
This further helps to reduce pin count and interface connections while still allowing flexible control of colour LCD backlighting used in main and sub displays or combinations of RGB LED or flash functions in portable products.
The CAT3636 is available in a tiny, 3 x 3mm, low-profile (0.8mm) 16-pin TQFN RoHS-compliant package.
Plated lead finish is matte tin.
The ordering code is CAT3636HV3-T2 and pricing for 10,000 piece quantities is $0.94 each.
Samples and evaluation kits are now available.
Projected lead-times for production quantities are currently 6 to 8 weeks ARO.
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