Maxim’s MAX25610A/B LED Drivers: Compact, High‑Efficiency, and EMI‑Optimized for Automotive & Industrial Lighting

Designers of high‑performance automotive lighting now have a streamlined, efficient approach for driving high‑brightness LEDs (HBLEDs) with Maxim Integrated’s MAX25610A and MAX25610B LED drivers. The synchronous buck‑boost converters deliver a complete solution that blends industry‑leading EMI performance with uncompromised efficiency and compact form factor. Each IC can directly drive up to eight HBLEDs from an automotive battery while integrating many external components, thereby reducing bill‑of‑materials costs and board space—making them ideal for automotive, industrial, and commercial lighting systems.

As the automotive sector accelerates its shift to all‑LED illumination, designers confront new challenges: boosting energy efficiency, simplifying schematic footprints, curbing production costs, and meeting stringent EMI standards. Traditional approaches required multiple discrete components to satisfy EMI specifications, often at the expense of space, efficiency, thermal performance, and cost.

The MAX25610A/B series resolves these trade‑offs by fusing solution size, high efficiency, and superior EMI control into a single package. The drivers accommodate a wide input range of 5 V to 36 V and achieve up to 90 % efficiency in buck‑boost mode. Integrated high‑ and low‑side MOSFETs, internal current‑sense circuitry, and on‑chip PWM dimming enable fine brightness control without a separate microcontroller, further trimming component count. The MAX25610B variant adds a 2.2 MHz switching‑frequency option, offering an even more compact design for tight enclosure constraints.

With the MAX25610A/B, engineers can deliver reliable, high‑brightness lighting that meets automotive EMI and thermal requirements while keeping design complexity, cost, and power consumption to a minimum.