An LED driver is a self-contained power supply that has outputs matched to the electrical characteristics of your LED or array of LEDs. There are currently no industry standards, so understanding the electrical characteristics of your LED or array is critical in selecting or designing a driver circuit. Drivers should be current-regulated (deliver a consistent current over a range of load voltages). Drivers may also offer dimming by means of pulse width modulation (PWM) circuits. Drivers may have more than one channel for separate control of different LEDs or arrays.

These integrated actively-matched current sources also enable the LED driver ICs to reach up to 97.5% efficiency. Since these new LED drivers use either minimal or no external components and come in small (SC-70, MLP, and TSOT) packages, they fulfill even the smallest PCB area requirements.

LED driver are configured as either Inductorless white LED drivers (for LEDs in parallel), or Inductor based white LED drivers (for LEDs in series). Topologies include boost regulator LED drivers, buck regulator LED drivers, buck-boost LED drivers and more. Regardless of topology, these LED driver ICs offer the highest efficiency, lowest noise, and the smallest footprints. Other features include integrated Schottky diodes, accurate LED current matching and multiple output capability.