LED Backlight Driver Fires Up Handhelds

Promising to ease design of power-efficient LCD and keypad backlights using white LEDs, the STLA02 backlight driver performs high-side current sensing, allowing the backlight negative terminal to interface directly to ground with no need for a low-side sensing connection. This simplifies pc-board design, reduces wired connections to the backlight, and increases system reliability. The chip drives up to six LEDs and operates from a supply voltage as low as 2.5V. Other features include a maximum input voltage of 18V, maximum driving voltage of 27V, an output current of 20 mA per LED, a switching frequency of 2.3 MHz, PWM dimming range of 300:1, and over-temperature and over-voltage protection. Available in a six-lead DFN6 package, price is $0.each/1,000. STMICROELECTRONICS, Lexington, MA. (888) 787-3550.