| Low _IQ is needed to extend battery life
| TPS7A02, I _Q control possible at light load
| Suitable for high-precision, low-power products such as medical devices


As demand for smaller, smarter connected devices grows, so does concern about battery life. To maintain long battery life, low quiescent current (I _Q ) is required.

Texas Instruments (TI) held a press conference at the TI Korea conference room in Samseong-dong, Seoul on the 19th and announced the launch of the 'TPS7A02', an ultra-low power low dropout (LDO) linear voltage regulator with an I _Q of less than 25㎁ (nanoampere).

The TI TPS7A02 linear regulator enables ultra-low quiescent current control at light loads, at least doubling battery life in applications using standard battery chemistries such as Li-ion. Additionally, its low shutdown standby current of 3nA enables up to five times longer battery life than competing devices in portable medical and wearable applications.

The new device stabilizes within less than 5 microseconds under load transients ranging from 1 to 50 mA. This allows it to respond quickly to rapidly changing loads and minimize output voltage fluctuations, making it ideal for high-precision, low-power applications such as portable medical devices and IoT devices that require clean power to obtain accurate signals around the human body.

The TPS7A02 automatically transitions from low-load conditions that conserve standby current to high-load conditions with rapid transients, eliminating the need for external circuitry or components. This allows engineers to reduce solution size by up to 70%, add more features, or use smaller boards to lower system costs.

“Low I _Q extends battery life, extends system life, increases functionality and ultimately reduces system cost,” said Samuel Wong, product manager for power management solutions at TI, at the press conference. “The TPS7A02 can solve important design challenges in a variety of high-precision and low-power power-sensitive applications such as grid infrastructure, smart buildings, medical equipment and wearables markets.”

Pre-production samples of the TPS7A02 are available now from the TI Store in a 1 mm × 1 mm 4-pin X2SON package. The 2.9mm × 1.6mm 5-pin SOT-23 package is scheduled to be released in the second half of this year, and the 0.65mm × 0.65mm 4-pin DSBGA (Die-Size Ball Grid Array) package is scheduled to be supplied early next year.

Pricing starts at $0.49 each in 1,000-unit quantities. The general-purpose LDO linear voltage regulator evaluation module, MULTIPKGLDOEVM-823, is available for $20.

Meanwhile, TI introduced several devices that help improve battery life in addition to the TPS7A02, including ▲ the 60㎁ I _Q -based switching regulator 'TPS62840' announced on July 15th, ▲ the high-input voltage supervisor 'TPS3840' featuring 1.5~10V V _IN released in the first quarter of this year, and ▲ the switching charger 'BQ25619' announced on the 3rd that integrates charging, boost converter, and voltage protection functions.