Low-Noise LDOs Stabilize DC Power Lines with Rapid Load Transient Response
The TCR5FM series of LDO regulators from Toshiba Electronics offers fast transient response to help enhance performance and battery life of small battery-powered devices, such as smartphones and wearables. The new regulators are designed to suppress potential instabilities in DC power lines that rapidly switch between their low-power standby modes and high-speed processing operations.
The new TCR5FM series improves load transient response from standby by approximately 80% compared to Toshiba’s existing TCR3RM series. The high performance is accomplished by combining a bandgap circuit, a low-pass filter that permits only extremely low frequencies to pass, and a high-speed, low-noise operational amplifier.
By quickly detecting fluctuations in output voltage and providing fast feedback, variations in output voltage are reduced, even during sudden load changes. In addition, the LDOs offer a ripple rejection ratio of 91 dB (typ.) to minimize supply noise.
The TCR5FM series includes 35 products, providing output voltages that range from 0.9 to 5.0 V. Housed in a compact 1- × 1-mm DFN4D package, the devices support a maximum output current of 500 mA and operating temperature range that extends up to +125°C, making them well-suited for mobile and wearable devices that require high-density mounting and high reliability.
About the Author
Lee Goldberg
Contributing Editor
Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.
Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.
Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.
Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.
Lee also writes the regular PowerBites series.