LTRIM's Micropower LDO IP Blocks Increase Battery Life

Low quiescent current and fast response increase operating time for handhelds

MONTREAL, December 22, 2005 - LTRIM Technologies, a leading provider of high performance CMOS analog Intellectual Property (IP), today announced the availability of the LTR18xx family of Low Drop Out (LDO) voltage regulator IP blocks. The new LTR1801-2.4T25, LTR1802-2.5T25, and LTR1803-T25 IP blocks are designed to increase the operating time of battery-operated system-on-chips (SoCs) by offering many key features such as very low drop out voltage, very low quiescent current, and fast-response low-power shutdown modes.

All the IP blocks support a wide input voltage range (2.7V - 5.5V) with excellent power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) over extended temperature range.  End-user applications enabled by these characteristics include wireless and handheld portable systems such as handheld meters, mobile phones, Bluetooth devices, digital cameras, pagers, PDAs, laptops, and global positioning satellite (GPS) systems.

With an output voltage accuracy of one percent and very low current consumption (16 A quiescent and just 0.6 A standby), the LTR1801-2.4T25 is ideal for system control processor units that are always in standby mode monitoring the system and user-interface. If the battery is at the limit of its lifetime, the LTR1801-2.4T25 fault detector indicator warns the system control processor unit of the SoC, allowing the SoC to take the appropriate measures in this critical situation. This key feature greatly improves the reliability of the SoC.

The ultra low power of the LTR1802-2.5T25 is ideally suited to supply the integrated real-time clock (RTC) sub-system in a SoC. The LTR1802-2.5T25 doesn't require any external components, helping to reduce the PCB area and BOM costs.  

The LTR1803-T25 offers dynamically programmable output voltage for maximum flexibility, trading off performance versus power consumption as well as allowing design reuse for multiple voltages such as core and I/O.

All three regulator blocks support a wide input voltage range (2.7V - 5.5V) and feature low quiescent currents, fast turn-on and turn-off times, high PSRR, low power consumption, high output accuracy, tight load/line regulation, low noise output, and dropout voltage of 200mV.

"By maintaining accurate voltage regulation even as battery power diminishes, our LDO IP blocks help extend the operating time of a wide range of SoC-based portable devices," said LTRIM marketing director, Sean Long.  "These new, silicon-proven blocks are great additions to our growing IP portfolio and illustrate our continued focus on bringing SoC designers a steadily increasing list of IP specifically aimed at meeting end-use market needs."

LTRIM's IP is represented as a mask layout or hard IP, and as such, has been optimized for performance and power on specific process platforms. As hard IP they can be reused in SoC designs, providing system designers with feature-enhanced, low-risk solutions to improve time to market for new products. The new LTRIM LDO regulator IP blocks are available today in 0.25 micron TSMC CMOS technology, but may be retargeted to other foundry process technologies and voltages.
 
About LTRIM

LTRIM Technologies is a leading provider of high-performance analog intellectual property (IP), with solutions offered in advanced CMOS technology from industry leading foundries. LTRIM provides solutions for the power management and data conversion markets. The company's IP solutions can be easily integrated into mixed-signal system-on-chips (SoCs) and stand-alone analog chips. More information on LTRIM's products and services can be found at www.ltrim.com.