Dimming LEDs remained a hot topic at the just-concluded Strategies in Light (SIL) conference in Santa Clara, CA, and Marvell led the way with the new 88EM8183 single-stage, solid-state lighting (SSL) driver IC that the company says can be smoothly dimmed to 1% of drive current. Designed for retrofit-lamp applications, the new IC relies on a digital signal processing (DSP) core to detect and adapt to different phase-cut dimmers.

The iWatt exhibit also stressed dimming while NXP focused on smart lighting and On Semiconductor had an innovative automotive-centric demonstration. Texas Instruments (TI) hosted dimming demonstrations and highlighted its LM3466 linear driver IC designed for current matching with multiple LED strings. Other companies with IC demos included STMicroelectronics and Monolithic Power Systems.

Marvell 88EM8183

Marvell's new IC can deliver 90% efficiency and a power factor above 0.95. Moreover the IC relies on a primary-side, current-control scheme that reduces the number of external components required in a design. For example, the design eliminates the need for an opto-coupler and other components that comprise the feedback circuit in secondary-side control.