Austriamicrosystems has introduced the AS1121, a 30V, 40mA, 16-channel LED driver with 12-bit PWM (pulse width modulation), dot correction and diagnostics.

It is a 16-channel, constant current-sink LED driver and each of the 16 channels can be individually adjusted by a 4096-step greyscale PWM brightness control (equals 6.8 billion colors) running at 10MHz as well as by a 64-step constant-current sink for dot correction.

The dot correction circuitry adjusts the typical brightness variations of LEDs on each channel.

The greyscale control and dot correction circuitry are accessible via the SPI-compatible serial interface.

A single external resistor sets the maximum current value of all 16 channels.

An open-LED detection function indicates a broken or disconnected LED at one or more of the outputs. Other features include an over-temperature signal and a power-down pin that can put the AS1121 LED driver IC into a 40nA standby mode.

The AS1121 features a 6-bit dot correction feature for full-color LED displays like stadium displays, outdoor and indoor displays, displays for public transport, street signs and LED video walls

It can also be used for LED backlight driving in monitors and TV's, or to generate ambient light patterns.

A demonstration board for the AS1121 LED driver is available.