Diodes Inc.'s regulators raise efficiency of low power system

PLANO, USA: Diodes Inc. announced the release of the ZXRE250 and ZXRE252 programmable shunt regulators. These devices feature a very low minimum cathode current for regulation of only 40µA, enabling improved efficiency in a range of applications including power supplies for consumer electronics such as computers, set top boxes and LCD TVs.

With the same electrical specifications as the industry standard TL431 but with a 10x lower cathode current, the three terminal regulators offer excellent temperature stability and output current handling up to 100mA. The devices’ regulated output can be set to any voltage between 2.5V and 36V using a pair of external divider resistors.

The ZXRE250 is provided in a choice of SOT23 and SOT25 packages, while the ZXRE252 offers an alternative pinout in SOT23. The parts offer standard reference voltage tolerance options of 1% and 0.5%, with a wide operating temperature range of -40 to 125°C. The regulators can also be used as direct replacements for Zener diodes in applications requiring an improvement in Zener performance.