Motor Controller suits 1.8 and sub-1.8 in. hard disk drives.
Press Release Summary:
Integrating all circuits needed to control and drive HDD spindle motor and voice coil actuator, Model L7208 HDD is intended for portable consumer electronics. Smooth Drive® pseudo-sinusoidal digital-drive technology minimizes acoustic noise from spindle motor. Class AB output stage has zero dead-band and minimal crossover distortion, and power FETs deliver up to 0.5 A peak current. Controller connects to host system through serial bus running at up to 50 MHz.
Original Press Release:
Highly-Integrated Hard-Disk-Drive Motor Controller Chip from STMicroelectronics Maximizes Battery Life in Portable Consumer Electronics Products
Ultra-thin hard-disk-drive Motor Controller integrates all necessary power FETs and is optimized for 1.8-inch and sub-1.8-inch consumer equipment drives
GENEVA, Switzerland, Sept. 26 / -- STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM), a world leader in disk drive and system-on-chip solutions, today announced a compact and highly-integrated hard disk-drive (HDD) Motor Controller intended for the 1.8-inch and sub-1.8-inch drives used in portable consumer electronics (CE) products such as MP3 and video players. The new L7208 HDD Motor Controller integrates all of the circuits needed to control and drive the HDD spindle motor and voice coil actuator -- including all the necessary power-FET (Field Effect Transistor) devices -- and is designed to save space and to minimize the drive's power consumption.
The L7208 is based on a flexible digital architecture which minimizes the Bill-of-Materials (BOM), reducing costs for manufacturers and allowing the device to be used across a broad range of HDD-based products. The IC includes two innovative technologies: ST's respected Smooth Drive(R) pseudo-sinusoidal digital-drive technique for minimizing acoustic noise from the spindle motor, an important feature for CE applications where quiet operation is essential; and a free-fall sensor interface.
Power consumption is extremely low in all operating modes, including a highly efficient sleep mode, to deliver extended battery life in the application. The class AB output stage has zero dead-band and minimal crossover distortion, and the power FETs can deliver up to 0.5A peak current. The voice-coil section includes a 14-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) for current commands and load/unload circuits.
In addition to the Smooth Drive feature, the spindle-motor section includes circuits for spindle-current limiting, start-up position sensing, and spindle braking during power down. The L7208 is register controlled, and connects to the host system through a serial bus running at up to 50MHz. Auxiliary functions integrated on the chip include an internal isolation FET, a 10-bit ADC, programmable voltage regulators, a shock sensor circuit and monitors for all voltage levels. The chip is produced using ST's field-proven Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) technology, which combines digital circuits, precision bipolar analog circuits and high-efficiency power FETs on the same piece of silicon.
ST's HDD motor-controller family also includes the L7207, which is firmware compatible with the L7208 and is designed both for the 5V drives made for mobile applications such as laptop computers, and for 12V desktop computer drives.
Available in an ultra-thin LGA package, samples of the L7208 HDD Motor Controller will be available in October 2006, priced at $15.00.
This press release is also available at http://st.com/stonline/stappl/press/news/year2006/p2069.htm
... with links to further information on the L7208
About STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence markets. The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on Euronext Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 2005, the Company's net revenues were $8.88 billion and net earnings were $266 million. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com.
