A new voltage regulator has been added to the ever growing pile of similar devices. This time it is a multimode switched capacitor buck-boost charge pump capable of regulating an input voltage in the range of 2.7V to 38V to a fixed 3.3V or 5V or adjustable from 2.5V to 5V. To operate it only needs three small ceramic capacitors, no inductors are required, keeping EMI switching noise to a minimum.

The new device, the LTC3246 from Linear Technology by Analog Devices, has an integrated windowed watchdog timer and reset timer and can deliver up to 500mA of output current while consuming itself only 20μA with no load, and as little as 1.5μA in shutdown mode. Timing control for the reset and watchdog timers can be adjusted by connecting capacitors to the RT and WT pins or by strapping pins. A reset input featuring an accurate threshold can be used for additional supply monitoring, or can be configured as a pushbutton reset.

Other features include stability with ceramic capacitors, foldback current limiting to prevent excessive current flow during start-up, plus short-circuit and thermal protection. The LTC3246 is available in a compact, thermally enhanced 16-lead MSOP package.

Illustration courtesy Analog Devices