Austriamicrosystems introduces the AS1119, the most advanced and compact LED dot matrix driver, for dot matrix displays in mobile phones, personal electronics and toys.

The biggest advantage is that only 9 mm2 of PCB space is required, and each LED has an 8-bit shading control. Without the need for an external resistor, 8-bit analog current control fine-tunes each array to compensate for differences in brightness produced by different colors, as well as white balance of RGB LEDs. The AS1119 integrates 6 frames memory for small animations and acts as a buffer to reduce the load on the main processor. The AS1119 is equipped with an on-board 320mA charge pump that provides power when the LED needs to exceed the voltage that the battery can provide, and continues to operate at low battery voltages, providing end users with an extended battery life of 80%.

The driver's features also include 1 MHz I2C compatible interface control, open and shorted LED error detection, and low power shutdown current. The AS1119 offers two modes of operation for flexible design. The single/dual color mode can be used to drive the largest number of LEDs in two 8x9 matrices. The RGB mode provides a 3x 5x6 matrix that can be set to white balance by adjusting the analog current of each matrix.

The AS1119 uses a multi-channel technology called a cross-plexing by austriamicrosystems to achieve the result of driving only 144 LEDs with only 18 lines. Available in a 36-pin WL-CSP 3x3 mm package with an operating temperature range of -40 to 85°C and an operating supply voltage range of 2.7V to 5.5V.