ROHM’s new LDO regulators expand design flexibility for high-current applications
ROHM has developed the “BD9xxN5 Series” of LDO regulator ICs with 500mA output current, featuring its proprietary ultra-stable control technology “Nano Cap”. This series comprises 18 products designed for 12V/24V primary power supply applications used in automotive equipment, industrial equipment, and communication infrastructure.
In recent years, electronic devices have demanded higher density in smaller form factors at the same time. To meet this demand and achieve space savings and design flexibility, power supply ICs must be capable of stable operation even with small-capacity capacitors. However, achieving such performance with output capacitors of 1µF or less has been technically difficult.
To address this challenge, ROHM developed the “BD9xxN1 Series” LDO regulator (150mA output current) in 2022, incorporating its proprietary ultra-stable control technology, “Nano Cap”. This innovation enables stable operation with output capacitors as small as 100nF, earning widespread adoption across numerous applications.
The newly developed BD9xxN5 Series builds on the success of the BD9xxN1 Series by increasing the output current to 500mA – more than three times higher than before – significantly broadening its suitability for applications requiring higher power. In addition, very low output voltage ripple of approximately 250mV (with load current variation of 1mA to 500mA within 1µs) is achieved with a small output capacitance of just 470nF (typical). Beyond standard small MLCCs (multi-layer ceramic capacitors) in the range of several µF and large-capacity electrolytic capacitors, it also supports ultra-small MLCCs, such as the 0603M size (0.6mm × 0.3mm), with capacities below 1µF – where stability was previously difficult to achieve. This contributes to space saving as well as greater flexibility in component selection.
Furthermore, high-precision SPICE models, “ROHM Real Model” are provided for accurate simulation and can be downloaded from the ROHM official website.
Nano Cap refers to ultra-stable control technology achieved by combining advanced analog expertise covering circuit design, processes, and layout utilising ROHM’s vertically integrated production system. Stable control eliminates the problem of unstable operation related to capacitors in analog circuits, contributing to a reduction in design resources for a wide range of applications in automotive, industrial equipment, consumer, and other fields.
