Microsemi Announces Expanded Line of LEDs, LED Drivers, New Wide-Range Light Sensor, and CCFL Inverters At Society for Information Display Conference
Tuesday May 20, 1:01 pm ET
IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 2003--Microsemi Corp. (Nasdaq:MSCC - News), a leading manufacturer of power management integrated circuits and hi-rel discrete semiconductors, is exhibiting its depth of display lighting technology this week during the 2003 International Exhibition of the Society for Information Display at the Baltimore Convention Center.
Microsemi's exhibit features a new high-powered white LED based on its patented Powermite3® packaging, integrated circuits for powering up to 60 LEDs, power inverter modules for single-, dual- and four-lamp CCFL displays, and two innovative light sensors for automatic control of display brightness.
Coinciding with the SID event, Microsemi announced that the company's Integrated Products Group in Garden Grove, Calif. has just exceeded 1 million units shipped of its RangeMax® extended temperature CCFL inverters used in automotive telematics displays.
"Exceeding a million modules underscores the significance of lighting applications for Microsemi's power management portfolio," said James J. Peterson, Microsemi president and chief executive officer. "Now these opportunities are expanding with our line of LEDs that use patented Powermite packaging for superior performance, our LED drivers and Microsemi's patented visible light sensor technology that provides a simple way to control display brightness," he added.
LED Introductions
Microsemi's newest LED is a white high brightness PowerBright(TM) device designed for high-power applications. Its surface mount package features a patented full metal bottom heat sink to provide the industry's lowest thermal resistance, as well as allowing customers the unique ability to mount PowerBright LEDs using standard infrared reflow mounting techniques.
Designated the UPW3LED(TM), the new PowerBright LED has a current rating of up to 350 milliamps, plus a broad luminous emission that exceeds 100 degrees, no ultraviolet bleed-through, and longer-life packaging characteristics essential to many high power lighting applications.
Microsemi's line of standard power LED products on display has been expanded to include Optomite(TM) high brightness white, high brightness blue, low Vf blue, bright red, bright green and amber devices. All provide the industry's broadest viewing angle for backlighting applications, as well as thermal resistance two times higher than the nearest conventional device.
Microsemi LEDs feature excellent color consistency derived from a patent-pending process for handling the phosphors that control LED color. This new process provides dramatically superior consistency across the color spectrum of a single LED, as well as across production lots -- both longstanding industry problems.
Microsemi's LEDs are designed for applications that include backlighting, keypads, panel/button/switch indicators, signage, signals and marker lights.
Microsemi LED products are complemented at SID by its line of LED driver circuits that include the LX1990(TM) dual programmable LED current sink, the LX1991(TM) 40V six-channel current sink for driving up to 60 LEDs, and the high efficiency LX1992(TM) and LX1993(TM) boost regulator devices.
Light Sensors
The LX1970(TM) visible light sensor, introduced in March, mimics human eye response, making it insensitive to the ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths that often confuse conventional brightness control devices.
Since it has no optical filters and requires no external amplifiers, the LX1970 sensor is the industry's lowest-cost and easiest-to-install automatic brightness control solution for flat panel displays. It can require as few as one external component in applications that can include PDAs, notebook PCs, LCD TVs, tablet PCs, mobile phones, digital cameras and automotive mirrors.
The LX1970 sensor's patent-pending design emulates the spectral response of the human eye with accuracy so fast and smooth that viewers are unaware as display brightness changes automatically with fluctuations in ambient light. Automatic brightness control can extend battery operation of portable appliances and lengthen the life of large screen liquid crystal display components.
Also announced at the SID Exhibition is a soon-to-be-released companion visible light sensor, the LX1971(TM), having a wider 4-decade usable light range. Pin-for-pin compatible with the LX1970, the LX1971's integrated high gain amplifiers multiply photo current, making it available at two output pins as a square root transfer function -- one a current source and the other a current sink. A single resistor at either or both outputs can convert the current to voltage.
CCFL Controllers and Inverters
Microsemi's SID exhibition also features a number of products from its broad line of power management integrated circuits and modules for lighting CCFL lamps.
The single-lamp and dual-lamp PanelMatch(TM) inverter modules introduced at last year's SID Exhibition are joined this year by the LXM1643 (TM) and LXM1644(TM) modules for quad-lamp applications that include 12-inch to 18-inch panel displays found in desktop computers, high brightness screens and industrial control displays.
Unique to the PanelMatch design is its externally programmable maximum output current capability over a range from 5 to 8 mA per lamp. This allows customers to match these Microsemi inverters, in 1 mA steps, to a wide array of LCD lamp current specifications, a significant time-saver any time a panel manufacturer changes specifications.
Microsemi's highly integrated controller design eliminates as many as 30 components in all PanelMatch modules, providing cost and performance advantages that include stable fixed-frequency operation, secondary-side strike-voltage regulation, open and shorted lamp protection with fault timeout, and an extended temperature rating of -20 degrees C to 70 degrees C.
Also announced at the 2003 SID Exhibition is Microsemi's soon-to-be-introduced LX1691(TM) single supply inverter that requires only 15 total components to build a complete CCFL power inverter. It provides an operating range of from 2.8 volts to 5.5 volts, simultaneous amplitude and duty cycle dimming capability, programmable min/max lamp current and synchronized burst mode dimming to external or internal clocks.
Complete technical information and data sheets for all Microsemi products are available on the Microsemi Web site, www.Microsemi.com. Samples and evaluation boards can be ordered through this site, or from Microsemi sales representatives and franchised distributors.
About Microsemi
Microsemi is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of analog, mixed-signal and discrete semiconductors. The company's semiconductors manage and control or regulate power, protect against transient voltage spikes and transmit, receive and amplify signals.
Microsemi's products include individual components as well as complete circuit solutions that enhance customer designs by improving reliability, battery optimization, reducing size or protecting circuits. Markets the company serves include mobile connectivity, computer/peripherals, telecom/datacom, medical, industrial, automotive, digital media, space/satellite and military.
More information may be obtained by contacting the company directly or by visiting its Web site at microsemi.com.
Read the following factors that can materially affect Microsemi's future results.
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Contact:
Microsemi Corp., Irvine
David R. Sonksen, (for investor inquiries), 949/221-7101
or
Cliff Silver, (editorial), 949/221-7112 |
