KAWASAKI, JAPAN -- Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation (“Toshiba”) has launched a CMOS dual comparator, “TC75W71FU.” It features a high-speed response and a full input/output range (Rail to Rail), suiting it for use in overcurrent detection in industrial equipment[1]. Shipments start today.

Today’s industrial equipment uses large currents in motor drives and power circuits. This brings with it the risk of sudden overcurrent, which can damage equipment, shut down production line, and even reduce safety; its rapid detection and protection from it are essential. In the constant search for higher efficiency and product miniaturization, the range of current and voltages that circuits can support has narrowed, and even slight overcurrent can impose a significant load on the circuit. This increases the need for faster and more precise overcurrent detection technologies.

The new product offers a faster propagation delay than the current TC75W56FU, with a maximum of 45ns for low-to-high transitions and 30ns for high-to-low transitions[2]. This enables immediate equipment shutdown in overcurrent, enhancing operational safety.

The input/output voltage range supports the full range—operation from minimum (GND) to maximum (Vcc) supply voltage—making design easier. The minimum operating supply voltage, 1.8V, supports low-voltage operation. Since the new comparator also features a push-pull output[3], signal rise and fall times are fast, no external pull-up resistor is required, and a stable voltage level can be maintained.

In addition to TC75W71FU, TC75W72FU, which features added hysteresis for enhanced noise immunity, and TC75W73FU[4], which offers hysteresis and an open-drain output[5] capable of sending signals to voltage domains different from the comparator’s supply, are scheduled to start mass production in February 2026.

Toshiba will continue to develop comparators that contribute to improved safety and reliability of industrial equipment, and to expand the product lineup to meet a wide range of customer needs.

Notes:

[1] Industrial robots, generators, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), transformers, etc.
[2] Propagation delay time of existing product TC75W56FU: Under measurement conditions of VDD=3V, low to high is typically 550ns, high to low is typically 250ns.
[3] Push-pull output: a configuration in which the output circuit includes two transistors, one at the top of the circuit, the other on the bottom, actively driving both the high and low levels.
[4] Propagation delay time is only 30ns (high to low) under measurement conditions of VDD=3.3V.
[5] Open-drain output: a configuration in which the output circuit includes only the lower transistor, actively driving the low level.