Sunnyvale, Calif.- April 1, 2002 - Advanced Analogic Technologies, Inc., (Analogic Tech) a developer of innovative power management solutions, announced today its first revolutionary new family of power management ICs. This broad, five-device Power Linear family, offering the lowest power and lowest noise LDO linear regulators on the market, promises to dramatically extend the battery life of next-generation portable, communications and computer systems.

"Emerging cellular, Bluetooth and portable consumer platforms need a variety of LDOs capable of driving down supply current and minimizing noise," says Jan Nilsson, senior director of marketing and sales. "With our new Power Linear family we're offering designers of next generation portable and wireless systems a broad choice of solutions."

The PowerLinear product line comes in two families. For those applications that require maximum battery life, Analogic Tech's Nanopower Low-Dropout (LDO) linear regulators feature an extremely low 1.1 micro amp (typical) quiescent current. Dropout voltage is also very low at 200 mV typical at a guaranteed 150 mA output current.

Three devices comprise the NanoPower LDO line. The AAT3221 and AAT3222 feature an enable pin which when pulled low activates a shutdown mode, which extends each device's power conservation capabilities. The AAT3220 offers the same features as the AAT3221/2 without the enable pin. All three devices feature output short circuit and over current protection. In addition, an over temperature protection circuit in each device will shutdown the LDO regulator during extended over current events.

The entire NanoPower product line is rated across a -40C to 85C temperature range. To simplify design-in, all three devices offer stable operation with any type of output capacitor.

For noise-sensitive RF, communications and mobile designs, Analogic Technology's MicroPower LDOs offer minimal noise, fast transient response and high power supply ripple rejection (PSRR). Two devices make up the MicroPower family. The AAT3215 combines an extremely low 140 mV dropout voltage with a low quiescent current of 95 micro amp typical at full output. The device also features a high power supply ripple rejection of 70 dB at 1 kHz and 50 dB at 10 kHz.

The second device in the MicroPower family, the AAT3236, delivers a continuous 300 mA output load current and supports current peaks of short duration up to 500 mA. The device's low dropout voltage is 300 mV typical at the full 300 mA output load current. Quiescent current is 100 micro amp typical. The AAT3236 also features extremely low self-noise for powering sensitive RF circuitry. Like the AAT3215, the AAT3236 delivers a high power supply ripple rejection of 70 dB at 1 kHz and 50 dB at 10 kHz.

Both the MicroPower devices add internal output short circuit protection and a thermal shutdown capability to minimize damage under extreme temperature conditions. The AAT3215 and AAT3236 also provide a bypass pin to enhance PSRR performance and output noise by connecting an external capacitor from the device's reference output to ground. To maximize battery life, both devices also add a low power shutdown mode.

The entire Power Linear product family is also designed to minimize footprint, a crucial consideration in compact mobile applications. All three NanoPower LDOs come in compact SOT23 or SC70JW packages designed to meet low-profile requirements. The AAT3221/2 are available in 5-pin SOT23 or 8-pin SC70JW packages while the AAT3220 is available in a 3-pin SOT23, 8-pin SC70JW and a SOT89 package.

Advanced Analogic Technologies, Inc. (Analogic Tech), 1250 Oakmead Parkway, Suite 310, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. Tel: 888-667-2284; 408-524-9684; Fax: 408-524-9689 Web: www.analogictech.com

A little background on Analogic Tech is worth noting because they have an interesting method for obtaining cutting edge production equipment and offering you the fruits of their labor. Analogic Tech partners with DRAM manufacturers, who move from an obsolete DRAM fab to a newer one. Analogic Tech uses this depreciated fab to put in their technologies and at the same time this enables them to acquire low-cost silicon. For example, take an obsolete 60 Mb DRAM that a partner leaves behind when they move into a new fab. Analogic Tech throws out the DRAM technology and puts in their own process and matches the equipment set that is in the DRAM fab. The equipment there is much more advanced than any average power IC fab. They use the DRAM ion implanters instead of the standard diffusion process for their power products. Typically power fabs, can't afford to use ion implants. So Analogic Tech takes advantage of the equipment, set in DRAM fabs, to make a much better product. The company offers a trench DMOS technology that has 287 million transistors per square inch. Typical density is around 100-million transistors/square inch. They can offer the same number of transistors in a smaller package or a device with better RDSon.

As I was writing this review, I found a complementary piece on our sister site, Planet Analog. You can get an in-depth background on the company and their business model by clicking here.

Using this sophisticated process, Analogic Tech developed products for different needs. They developed a general purpose LDO where neither power nor noise is the issue for the customer. These customers just need a good, stable LDO. The company then developed the AAT3230 nano power LDO that has a quiescent current of 1 micro amp. Additionally, something worth noting, it is independent of the output current, so whatever current you take out - one microamp goes in to support the LDO. The 3220 also provides an output short circuit and over current protection. And because Analogic Tech uses a sophisticated process provided by their partners, they can offer smaller chip size that the manufacturers of cellular phones and hand-held devices are screaming for, smaller packaging such as the SOT-23 size.

The AAT3215 micro power consumes a little more power than the 3220 to get a lower noise ground plane. But another way to look at it is efficiency. Low ground plane current translates into better efficiency particularly for applications that are consuming very little current - like a real-time clock in a PDA or cell phone. The real time clock uses only a few micro amps, and you don't want your LDO to consume as much as your real-time clock.

The AAT3220 NanoPower LDO is offered in SOT-23 packages or the 3-pin SOT-89 for increased power dissipation. The two MicroPower LDOs come in 5-pin SOT23 or 8-pin SC70JW packages. Both are available in a variety of factory-programmed operating voltages ranging from 2.5 V to 3.5 V.

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