Catalyst offers four-channel Low Dropout Driver (LDD™) for driving LEDs directly

Date Announced: 05 Apr 2007 CAT4004 addresses migration of white LEDs to lower forward voltagesSANTA CLARA, Calif., April 5, 2007 -- Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc. (NASDAQ:CATS) a supplier of analog, mixed-signal and non-volatile memory semiconductors has announced the CAT4004, a new four-channel LDD™ (low dropout driver) designed for emerging, power-conscious portables where the LEDs are driven directly from the battery. With the migration of white LEDs to lower forward voltages, a number of portable applications are now able to drive LEDs directly from the system battery without the need to boost voltage. The new CAT4004 is designed specifically to meet the needs of this emerging market requirement by achieving a low dropout voltage of 130mV, which maximizes LED performance as system battery voltage decays. “When driving LEDs in portable systems, the end-of-life battery voltage is directly proportional to the sum of the LED forward voltage and the LED driver dropout voltage,” said Scott Brown, Vice President of Marketing for Catalyst Semiconductor. “As the market trends toward lower voltage LEDs, a portion of the market will choose to drive LEDs directly from the battery. The low dropout voltage of the CAT4004 LDD will enable these designers to significantly extend battery life.”The CAT4004 LDD features tight current matching of +/-5 percent across a wide range of LED voltages. It also offers LED programming simplicity via Catalyst’s one-wire EZDim™ interface, which allows output enable/disable and LED dimming control all from a single I/O on the system microcontroller. LED current can be controlled at six levels: 100 percent (full-scale brightness), 50 percent, 25 percent, 12.5 percent, 6 percent and 3 percent.Product Features- Four LED current sinks with tight matching- Dropout voltage of 130mV (at 30mA)- No switching noise- Independent control loop for each LED- LED current set by external resistor- LED dimming via Catalyst 1-wire EZDim™ interface- Thermal shutdown protection, shutdown current <1uA- Packaging: 8-lead TDFN, 2mm x 3mmPrice and AvailabilityThe CAT4004 low dropout LED driver is priced at $0.52 each in 10,000 piece quantities. Samples are available now. Projected lead-time for production quantities is currently 6 to 8 weeks ARO.About Catalyst SemiconductorFounded in 1985, Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc. is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The Company produces analog and mixed signal products in addition to an extensive range of non-volatile memories. The analog and mixed-signal product lines include Digitally Programmable Potentiometers (DPP™), white and color LED drivers, DC/DC converters, voltage supervisors, linear regulators and I/O expanders. The memory product lines consist of serial and parallel EEPROMs, Flash and NVRAM. Catalyst devices are used in telecommunications, networking systems, computation, automotive, industrial and consumer markets. Typical applications include LCD displays, automotive instrumentation, optical networks, modems, wireless LANs, network cards, DIMM modules, cellular telephones, digital satellite box receivers, set-top boxes and Internet routers. Catalyst's Quality Management System is ISO 9001:2000 certified. All Catalyst products are available in “green” lead- and halogen-free versions with full RoHS compliance. For additional information about Catalyst Semiconductor, visit our website at: www.catsemi.com.Forward Looking StatementsCertain statements in this press release are forward looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include references to availability and lead times of Catalyst’s LED drivers, which could change depending on market and other conditions, such as risks from interruptions in our manufacturing processes and the processes of our foundries and vendors, and fluctuations in customer demand. More details about factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained under the heading “Certain Factors That May Affect the Company’s Future Results of Operations” listed from time-to-time in Catalyst’s SEC reports including, but not limited to, the report on the Form 10-K for the year ended April 30, 2006 and Form 10-Q for the second quarter of fiscal year 2007 ended October 31, 2006.

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