austriamicrosystems has designed two new LED driver ICs for the latest LCD TVs.
The new AS382x LED controller ICs are available as the 16-channel AS3820 and the 12-channel AS3821 to meet the needs of the most common architectures of both direct and edge-lit LED TVs.
Both ICs feature ±0.2% channel-to-channel accuracy -- the highest accuracy available -- to guarantee the best possible light uniformity and picture quality.
The ICs can be used for driving external power MOSFETs or, due to their unique base current error compensation, even drive less expensive low beta bipolar transistors.
austriamicrosystems has designed the LED driver ICs using a unique power supply control technique that enables the best system efficiency. This technique has been further improved and requires fewer external components, provides very fast response time, and direct control of the output voltage of any standard DC-DC converter. This direct control feature is especially useful for designing the latest 3D TVs.
The devices are programmable via an SPI port and provide built-in safety features, including thermal shutdown and open and short LED detection.