Mass production and shipment! Naxinwei's high-performance automotive-grade LDO brings new options for vehicle power design

The NSR31/33/35 series, the first automotive-grade LDO chip newly released by Nanochip in 2022, is now officially in mass production and is supplied in batches to well-known international automotive parts manufacturers.

LDO chip is a low voltage drop linear regulator. With the development of automobile electrification and intelligence, LDO is becoming more and more important in vehicle power design, especially in low voltage applications such as vehicle power, vehicle infotainment system, body control, and autonomous driving. The NSR3x series products are designed for automotive battery-powered systems. Their wide input voltage range, ultra-low static power consumption, multiple protection functions, and multiple packaging forms provide engineers with new options for the development of power modules for vehicle applications.

01 Wide input voltage range

Unlike consumer electronics such as computers and home appliances, automobiles have a variety of application scenarios, and the power supply voltage is prone to large jumps under conditions such as cold start and load dumping. The international standard ISO 7637 is an electromagnetic compatibility standard set by the standardization organization for automotive 12V and 24V power supply systems. Among them, ISO 7637-2 is a test standard for the ability of power modules in automotive applications to cope with transient voltage changes. By designing a series of transient voltage tests, it simulates all electrical faults that automobiles may encounter in real application scenarios, such as load dumping. The design standards of many vehicle manufacturers refer to the ISO 7637 standard, and some manufacturers have modified the standard to meet their own needs. ISO 7637 also includes electromagnetic tolerance and emission specifications for electromagnetic compatibility testing. These standards are set to allow vehicle manufacturers to check whether there are electrical faults in the power system design through tests before leaving the factory.

The complexity of automotive application scenarios requires that the LDO chip in the vehicle power module has a wider input voltage range to ensure the stability of the LDO post-stage output and prevent the LDO chip from being damaged due to power supply voltage fluctuations.

The NSR3x series LDO launched by Naxinwei is designed for automotive battery-powered systems. It has a wide input voltage of 3V to 40V and supports transient voltages up to 45V. It can provide stable and reliable power input for LDO post-stage devices, thereby ensuring that the functions of the corresponding modules can be correctly implemented under various complex working conditions and extending the service life of the corresponding modules.

02 Ultra-low static power consumption

As one of the largest sources of carbon emissions, automobiles have been developing in the direction of energy conservation and emission reduction. Both new energy vehicles and traditional vehicles emphasize energy conservation. Since new energy vehicles are powered by batteries, the current charging speed and charging facilities are not perfect, so the requirements for power consumption control of various components are higher. Functions such as inductive wipers, automatic headlights, and inductive trunks will only work after the start conditions such as rain or darkness are triggered. Before the function is started, the power consumption should be kept as low as possible, which requires the static power consumption of chips such as LDO in the module to be low enough.

The current of NSR3x is only 270nA when it is turned off, and the typical quiescent current is 5uA when it is lightly loaded. When the external power supply reaches 0.2mA, the typical quiescent current is 6uA. The power consumption index in low power mode is very good. Using NSR3x to power the MCU and CAN/LIN transceiver in the standby system not only saves more power, but also prolongs battery life. It is very suitable for application scenarios with high standby power consumption requirements.

03 Multiple protection functions and high reliability

Automotive components are often subjected to various extreme temperatures and weather conditions, such as high and low temperatures and heavy rain and snow. Therefore, the operating temperature range of automotive components is much wider than that of consumer-grade components. Consumer electronic components are generally required to work normally at 0°C to 70°C, but the requirements for automotive components are much higher, and the minimum operating temperature range is -40°C to 85°C. Components around components with high heat generation, such as engines, often need to support high-temperature applications of 125°C.

In addition, automotive applications emphasize safety and reliability, and therefore require LDOs to have self-protection functions to cope with unexpected situations in complex and harsh application scenarios. For example, if the LDO output is short-circuited to the ground due to a connector short circuit or solder slippage, there is a great risk. If there is no protection circuit, the current surge will cause the LDO to burn out and cause other safety risks.

NSR3x can operate normally in an ambient temperature range of -40°C to 125°C, and has integrated short-circuit protection and over-temperature protection functions to ensure that modules designed using NSR3x can operate normally in various scenarios.

04 Multiple packages available for easy design

In automotive-grade LDO applications, it is also important to pay attention to heat dissipation design. Because automotive-grade LDOs are usually used in modules with poor air circulation or even no air circulation at all, if the heat dissipation design is not good enough, when the ambient temperature is high, the LDO and its module will heat up quickly. Therefore, it is important to choose the appropriate package for the appropriate application and do a good job of heat dissipation design.

The NSR3x series is divided into three products. The maximum output current of NSR31 is 150mA, the maximum output current of NSR33 is 300mA, and the maximum output current of NSR35 is 500mA. In view of the different current output capabilities, Naxinwei has optimized the packaging and heat dissipation design, and provides SOT223, SOT23, DFN-8, MSOP-8EP, SOP-8EP, TO252, TO263 and other packages to choose from. Users can choose the corresponding package according to the actual application to optimize the heat dissipation and size design of the entire module, and determine the structural design and circuit board layout and wiring according to the selected package, so as to achieve a better balance between performance and cost.

Nanochip LDO Linear Regulator Selection Table

The launch of the NSR3x series is a reflection of Nanochip's further expansion of its automotive product layout. Currently, Nanochip has provided semiconductor products such as sensors, signal chains, isolation, interfaces, sampling, drivers, and power supplies for automotive applications. Many of these products have been highly recognized by domestic and foreign vehicle manufacturers and have been mass-produced. In the automotive market, Nanochip has built an independent core technology matrix and established a complete product development, quality management, and production capacity guarantee system. Nanochip is using hard-core technology to bring more driving force to the upgrading of the automotive industry.