In
electronics
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
, a driver is a
circuit or
component used to control another circuit or component, such as a high-power
transistor
upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink).
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...
,
liquid crystal display (LCD),
stepper motor
A stepper motor, also known as step motor or stepping motor, is a brushless DC electric motor that divides a full rotation into a number of equal steps. The motor's position can be commanded to move and hold at one of these steps without any posi ...
s,
SRAM memory,
and numerous others.
They are usually used to regulate current flowing through a circuit or to control other factors such as other components and some other devices in the circuit. The term is often used, for example, for a specialized
integrated circuit that controls high-power
switches
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
in
switched-mode power converters. An
amplifier
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost t ...
can also be considered a driver for
loudspeaker
A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or ...
s, or a
voltage regulator
A voltage regulator is a system designed to automatically maintain a constant voltage. A voltage regulator may use a simple feed-forward design or may include negative feedback. It may use an electromechanical mechanism, or electronic components ...
that keeps an attached component operating within a broad range of input
voltage
Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to ...
s.
Typically the driver stage(s) of a circuit requires different characteristics to other circuit stages. For example, in a transistor power amplifier circuit, typically the driver circuit requires current gain, often the ability to discharge the following transistor bases rapidly, and low output impedance to avoid or minimize distortion.
In
SRAM memory driver circuits are used to rapidly discharge necessary bit lines from a precharge level to the write margin or below.
See also
*
Hitachi HD44780 LCD controller
() is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo G ...
References
External links
ADP3418Driver Circuits
Analog circuits
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