Modern factories commonly use automated systems that rely on feedback from many switching regulators throughout the plant to maintain high productivity. These companies use a digital fieldbus to aggregate the vast amounts of data collected by sensors. The more data the sensors collect, the better the adaptability and operability of the system.

Therefore, modern industrial sensors with fieldbus connections must detect the signal at a faster rate and output this information as a digital signal as opposed to a traditional analog signal. This feature requires the sensor to use a more powerful processor. In addition, due to the greater number of such sensors in the factory, the form factor is smaller. The increase in power and the decrease in form factor forced the factory to abandon the mature linear regulator scheme in favour of the switching regulator scheme.

However, the use of switching regulators has created new challenges. Since inductors require the use of additional areas, switching regulators have a large form factor. The relationship between the frequency of the regulator switch and the frequency of the measured signal must be considered. Therefore, the layout of the converter is more critical. Poorly designed switching regulators can increase background noise and create unnecessary electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), which can interfere with the detection of small signals.

Fortunately, we currently offer integrated inductor DC/DC switching regulators that minimize such challenges. The integration of inductors not only reduces the area of switching nodes, but also makes it easier to achieve layout. The significantly higher switching frequency of the new DC/DC converters allows the use of small chip inductors and ceramic capacitors, making DC/DC converters a very small form factor option.

The new LMZM23601 power module integrates DC/DC converters, inductors, Vcc filter capacitors and boost capacitors into a 3mm*3.8mm*1.6mm package. This can handle input voltages up to 36V and reduce the voltage from 15V to 2.5V (fixed 5V and 3.3V optional) while output current up to 1A. Complete 1A solution with small in-board space.