Controller-based solutions have been around for quite a while and offer a significant amount of flexibility, but they also require significant design resources to layout and test circuits with numerous components. The example on this slide shows an application circuit using ROHM’s general purpose BD9300F controller IC (www.rohm.com/web/global/products/-/product/BD9300F). This step-down converter (also called a “buck” regulator) requires approximately twenty components to address all elements (a timing circuitry to set the oscillation frequency, a voltage divider to control the output, phase compensation, etc.).

