Unconditionally Stable Low Dropout Regulators for Extreme Environments

We have developed a fully integrated LDO regulator using a patented transistor technology that can be manufactured in high volume commercial semiconductor foundries with no changes to the process flow. The regulator is stable under all load conditions without the need for an external compensation capacitor thereby reducing the mass/volume of the power management system and increasing reliability. The existing LDO component has very competitive figures of merit (dropout voltage, transient response, power supply rejection) compared to existing components targeting commercial consumer electronics. The work we are proposing for this Phase 1 activity will confirm the expected wide temperature range operation (-180C to +150C) and radiation tolerance (200krads(Si) to 1 Mrad(Si)) of the existing component. Based on these measurements we shall design, simulate and layout LDO regulators for nominal load currents of 100 mA and 1A for fabrication at two rad-hard CMOS foundries during a follow-on Phase 2 activity. The LDO regulators will be designed as drop-in replacements for many existing components. They can also be integrated directly on chip as part of an application specific integrated circuit thereby reducing the chip count still further.