NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR INTRODUCES FAMILY OF HIGH CURRENT, LOW VOLTAGE CMOS LDO's

LP396X Family Features Ultra-Low Dropout for Low Voltage, High Current Computing and Networking Applications

December 13, 1999 - National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:NSM) today announced the LP396X family, a series of CMOS low dropout regulators for low voltage, high current computing applications. The six products, available with output currents of 0.8A, 1.5A or 3.0A, all include logic-controlled on/off, either an error flag or a separate sense pin, and are available in the SOT223, TO263 or TO220 packages. Typical dropout voltage for the regulators is a low 240mV at 0.8A, 380mV at 1.5A and 800mV at 3.0A.

"As system manufacturers integrate low voltage circuitry into their designs, they need regulators which can handle voltage conversion at low voltage and high current," said William Weiss, product marketing manager for National's Power Management Group. "National's LP396X family of LDO voltage regulators offers dropout performance that few competitors can match, as well as a full feature set and a range of output currents to meet the design requirements of most 5V, 3.3V or 2.5V computing and networking applications."

The LP396X family is comprised of the LP3961, LP3962, LP3963, LP3964, LP3965 and LP3966, detailed in the following matrix:

Device	Output Current (A)	Feature
LP3961	0.8	On/off, error flag
LP3962	1.5	On/off, error flag
LP3963	3.0	On/off, error flag
LP3964	0.8	On/off, separate sense pin
LP3965	1.5	On/off, separate sense pin
LP3966	3.0	On/off, separate sense pin

Each product includes a logic-controlled on/off, allowing designers to dynamically manage power, and either an error flag or a separate sense pin. The error flag indicates a system fault and the separate sense pen permits remote load sensing when the regulator output pin is not next to the load. Quiescent current is just 15µA in shutdown mode, and the entire series features low output noise, as well as low output capacitor requirements of only 10µF. Output voltage accuracy is +1.5% at room temperature over load and line variations, and +3.0% over all conditions (varying load, line and temperature). Sixteen different voltage options, as well as an adjustable version, are possible with each product.

The LP396X family of products are CMOS LDO regulators. The CMOS manufacturing process enables the following benefits:

• Low R_ds(on) for lower dropout
• Low I_q and I_gnd, relatively independent of load current
• EEPROM trimming for precision and fast customization

Price and Availability
The LP3961EMP is priced at $1.01 when purchased in quantities of 1,000. For more information on the entire LP396X family, visit National's World Wide Web site at LP3961, LP3962, LP3963, LP3964, LP3965 and LP3966.

About National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor provides system-on-a-chip solutions for the information age. Combining real-world analog and state-of the-art digital technology, the company's chips lead many sectors of the personal computer, communications, and consumer markets. With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, National reported sales of $2 billion for its last fiscal year and currently has about 11,000 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.