AC Direct LED Driver ICs in volume production

AC direct LED driver ICs replace AC-DC converters or SMPS (switched-mode power supply) and controls power without the use of large capacitors and inductors over a range of AC input voltages. This enables a constant current IC for supplying current to a load regardless of input voltage variation. “TowerJazz was among the very first foundries to develop a 700V BCD process, and through our collaboration with customers like DMBT, we have achieved volume production with this process and in turn, DMBT has strengthened its market position in the competitive LED lighting market.” The rise of LED technology is affecting every part of the commercial lighting industry. The demand for affordability and improved quality are driving the widespread adoption of LEDs, and this single technology appears likely to surpass all others in nearly every metric of quality and efficiency. According to a 2013 report from Navigant Research, worldwide unit shipments of LED lamps will grow from 68 million in 2013 to 1.28 billion annually by 2021. The markets for every other lighting technology will contract over that period. According to Jesse Foote, research analyst, “LED lighting has already begun to enter the commercial market in significant volume, and will grow rapidly over the remainder of the decade.” TowerJazz’s 700V BCD process provides a specialized device and design environment that is especially suited to LED lighting but also applicable to AC to DC converters as well as gate drivers for MOSFETs and IGBTs in applications such as electrical motors. This technology combines 6.5V, 16V and 26V CMOS for digital, analog and gate control blocks with 700V JFET, 450V and 700V NLDMOS for robust handling of 110v and 220V AC directly while maintaining a very low total layer-count and very good Rdson resulting in products with high performance and small die size. “Our AC direct LED driver IC product using TowerJazz’s 700V BCD process is receiving very good reviews in terms of product efficiency and superior flicker function which is more advanced than other similar products presently on the market. TowerJazz made a significant contribution to this success by providing the required process and devices upon DMBT’s requests,” said Dr. Dong-Youl Jeong, DMB Technology's Chief Technology Officer, DMBT. “LED lighting is a rising market worldwide and Korea is an important region for innovation of this technology. We are very pleased to be an integral player in the Korean market and work with leading-edge partners such as DMBT to enable their AC direct LED driver ICs,” said Michael Song, VP of Sales and President of TowerJazz Korea. “TowerJazz was among the very first foundries to develop a 700V BCD process, and through our collaboration with customers like DMBT, we have achieved volume production with this process and in turn, DMBT has strengthened its market position in the competitive LED lighting market.”