NXP Semiconductors N.V. has promoted two collections of automotive LED driver ICs ASL1010NTK and ASL1010PHN, designed for vehicle LED headlights and tail lights.

According to NXP, automotive LEDs have used complex, relatively expensive driver ICs made for generic Solid State Lighting applications that lack many of the critical functions needed for automotive applications.

In comparison, the ASL1010NTK/ASL1010PHN driver ICs bring a compact all-in-one solution that needs only a few additional components, allowing more cost-effective, elegant and reliable LED module designs with the integration of core functions critical to automotive LED lights.

Moreover, the solution provides flexibility to accommodate various car platforms, configurations, output voltages, and numbers of LEDs. These LED driver ICs have an auto buck/boost topology, enabling them to safely drive up to 20 LEDs from the standard car battery voltage. These systems also allow optimal flexibility on output voltage from 6 to 60V, and may be used with any LEDs currently available in the market.

NXP’s core functionality for driving automotive LEDs has been integrated into the IC, making the reference design compact but flexible enough to be utilized across different configurations and numbers of LEDs, without requiring PCB redesign. The IC design eliminates redundant functionality across platforms, as well as the need for an external microcontroller. Moreover, the ASL1010NTK/ASL1010PHN driver ICs are based on the ABCD9 technology node (NXP's automotive technology platform driving analog mixed-signal integration).

The two LED driver ICs will be available for sampling by the end of the November 2010.