KUALA LUMPUR, Toshiba Electronic Devices and Storage Corporation (Toshiba) has started providing engineering samples of "TB9103FTG", a gate driver IC for automotive brushed DC motors. According to Toshiba in a statement, this includes latch motors and lock motors in power backdoors and power slide doors, and drive motors for power windows and power seats. Formerly manually adjusted parts of automobiles are now largely electrified, which has increased both demand for electric motors and the number integrated into vehicles. The number of drivers used in motors has also increased, prompting moves to downsize and integrate overall systems. There are also some motor applications that do not require rotational speed control, and drivers with simple functions and performance are required for these applications. TB9103FTG offers streamlined gate driver functions and performance for brushed DC motors that do not require speed-control, opening the way to more compact design. It has a built-in charge pump circuit that ensures voltage needed to power external MOSFETs for driving motors and also has a gate monitoring function that prevents the generation of through-current by automatic control of the output timing of the gate signal to the high-side and low-side external MOSFETs. The new IC can also be used as one-channel H-bridge or two-channel half-bridges. In addition to application as a motor driver, it can be combined with an external MOSFET to replace mechanical relays and other mechanical switches, contributing to quiet operation and higher equipment reliability. Source: BERNAMA News Agency