Automotive grade high-current LED driver ICs

The A6265, A6266 and A6267 from Allegro MicroSystems Europe are a new family of automotive-grade, high-current LED driver ICs with extensive diagnostics and protection features. The new devices, which are fully qualified to the AEC-Q100 Grade 0 Automotive Specification, are DC-DC converter controllers, with the A6265/A6267 configurable as either boost or buck-boost converters and the A6266 as a boost converter only. All the new driver ICs provide a programmable constant current output for driving high power LEDs in series, ensuring identical currents and uniform brightness. Each is capable of driving up to 15 LEDs at currents of 1 A or higher based on the external logic-level MOSFET. With the A6267, the DC-DC converter can be configured as a ground-referenced boost converter or as a supply referenced boost converter providing buck-boost capability. The buck-boost topology used ensures that there is no leakage path through the LEDs at shutdown and no inrush current at power-up. The A6265, A6266 and A6267 provide a robust, high-performance, cost-effective solution using an external MOSFET and minimum additional external components. The maximum LED current is set with a single external sense resistor and can be modified using a current reference input. Direct PWM control is possible via the "enable" input, which also provides a shutdown mode. The dimming schemes for the A6265 and A6267 differ slightly, offering flexibility to the designer with a choice of drop-in devices. Integrated diagnostics and two fault outputs give indication of under-voltage, chip over-temperature, output open circuit, LED short circuit and LED under-current, and can be configured to provide short-circuit to supply and short-circuit to ground protection for the LED connections. The ability to detect one or more short-circuited LEDs is a unique feature of all the devices. The new LED driver family is targeted at automotive and industrial LED driver applications: in particular, exterior front and rear automotive lighting. All three devices (A6265KLPTR-T, A6266KLPTR-T and A6267KLPTR-T) are available in a 16-pin eTSSOP package (suffix LP) with exposed thermal pad. Please click here to download a copy of the A6265 data sheet: www.allegromicro.com/en/Products/Part_Numbers/6265 Please click here to download a copy of the A6266 data sheet: www.allegromicro.com/en/Products/Part_Numbers/6266/6266.pdf Please click here to download a copy of the A6267 data sheet: www.allegromicro.com/en/Products/Part_Numbers/6267/6267.pdf www.allegromicro.com