A linear voltage regulator integrated circuit (IC) drops the voltage from a higher level to a lower level without inductance. A low-voltage difference (LDO) linear regulator is a special type of linear regulator whose differential pressure (the difference between the input and output voltages required to maintain a stable voltage) is typically less than 400 mV. Early linear regulator designs offered a differential pressure of about 1.3V, which meant that for an input voltage of 5 V, the maximum output that could be achieved by adjusting the device was only about 3.7V. However, under the conditions of today's more complex design techniques and wafer manufacturing processes, Low " Roughly defined as < 100mV to 300mV.
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In addition, while LDO regulators are typically one of the lowest-cost components in any given system, it is often one of the most valuable from a cost\/benefit perspective. In addition to output voltage regulation, another key task of LDO regulators is to protect expensive back-end loads from harsh environmental conditions such as voltage transients, power supply noise, reverse voltage, electrical surges, etc. In short, the design must be robust and include all protective features to suppress environmental performance impacts while protecting the load. Many low-cost LDO linear regulators fail without the necessary protection, causing damage not only to the regulator itself, but also to the back-end load