The world's smallest automotive LDO regulators

Customers are now able to choose from multiple voltage and current options as well as packaging solutions to meet the exact requirements of their application, whether in automotive body, power train and infotainment or advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Both line-ups are based on ROHM’s vertically integrated product system along with its proprietary analog design process and package technologies to achieve high efficiency in a compact form factor while adding to design flexibility and reliability.

In recent years, Automotive power supply ICs continue to increase in sophistication and functionality, accompanied by a greater need for an expanded offering to cover a wide range of characteristics and application requirements – such as package type and output current – instead of simply focusing on an all-in-one-solution.

The BD7xxLx series together with the BD4xxMx series is optimized for all applications which are connected to the battery and which require an extreme low quiescent current. Thanks to its wide input voltage range (up to 50V max. voltage) and wide operating temperature range spanning -40 to +125°C, this family is a perfect solution for automotive body, powertrain and infotainment systems. The BD7xxLx line-up is composed by 8 part numbers, with optional output voltage from 3.3V and 5V, output current capability form 200mA up to 500mA and 3 standard package types.

The proliferation of accident prevention measures and automated driving systems are demanding advanced safety systems that deliver higher performance. While this increases the number of sensors, camera modules and other mounted components, there is also a need to decrease part size to improve design flexibility and reduce vehicle weight. However, so far it has been difficult to design power supply ICs that deliver high reliability in a very small form factor. Until now, for harsh automotive system environments with increased noise, temperature and vibration, the smallest package size that could provide the necessary level of reliability has been 1.5mm².

The new AEC-Q100 qualified BUxxJA2MNVX-C series provides automotive grade reliability in an ultra-compact 1mm² package, decreasing the mounting area by 55% over existing products. At the same time, stand-by current consumption (35uA) and load regulation characteristics (65mV load fluctuation) are reduced by half, contributing to smaller, higher performance automotive safety modules. Unlike conventional products requiring an external capacitance of at least 1.0uF to prevent oscillation, the new regulator types support smaller external capacitors as low as 0.22uF for further miniaturization.