AN 286: Implementing LED Drivers in Altera MAX Series

ID 683116
Date 12/13/2017
Public

Commercial LED Driver Chips

Many LEDs, such as the seven-segment display, are common-anode LEDs. The LEDs anode connects to VCC and each cathode connects to an output pin of the current-sinking LED driver chip. The driver chip sinks the DC current required to drive the display, and the LED turns on when the driver chip's output pins drive low. Current-regulating circuits are implemented inside the LED driver chips.

Current-sinking LED drivers are more common than current-sourcing drivers.

Table 1.  Current-Sinking LED Driver ChipsLists some common LED driver chips manufactured by Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor, and Toshiba. The manufacturer datasheets provide additional information about LED driver chips.
LED Driver Chip Description
Texas Instruments
TLC5905 LED driver with shift registers, data latch, and constant current circuitry
TLC5910 LED driver with shift registers, data latch, on-chip phase-locked loop (PLL) for gray scale generation and constant current
TLC5911 LED driver with shift registers, data latch, on-chip PLL for gray scale generation and constant current
TLC5921 LED driver with shift register, data latch, and current-sink constant current circuitry
National Semiconductor
DS8874 9-digit shift input LED driver
DS8863 MOS-to-LED 8-digit driver
DS8963 MOS-to-LED 8-digit driver
Toshiba
TB62701AN 16-bit constant current LED driver with shift register and latch functions
TB62705 8-bit constant current LED driver with shift register and latch functions
TB62706 16-bit constant current LED driver with shift register and latch functions
TB62707 8-bit constant current LED driver with latch functions