Challenging the future with high technology driver ICs

In 2006, Dongwoon Anatech was spun off from Dongwoon International, a semiconductor distributor set up in 1987. The company is one of the leading makers of Auto Focus (AF) driver ICs for mobile phone cameras, being a certified business partner of Samsung’s and LG camera module divisions. In addition, the company was even selected as Green Partner of Sony.

“AF driver ICs were first released in 2006. In two and a half years, a total of 105 million units were produced. We have dominated both domestic—over 90 percent—and overseas—over 30 percent—markets. Based on our success in the mobile phone market, we have expanded our business into other electronics products,” said Kim Dong-cheol, CEO, Dongwoon Anatech.

Utilizing its advanced AF driver IC technology, Dongwoon Anatech has been successful as well in the LCD BLU (black light unit) and LED lighting. In particular, the company has released five different driver ICs for LED lighting, optimized for current control, brightness control and thermal radiation; it has expanded its business across consumer and industrial markets as well.

Apart from that, Dongwoon Anatech has developed DC/DC converters for AMOLED displays in the second half of 2007, with mass production starting in October last year. According to Kim, mobile phones with AMOLED displays need constant voltage despite battery fluctuations. “Unlike LCDs, each cell illuminates on its own in AMOLED displays, therefore the change in voltage has a great impact on video quality. That’s why the DC/DC converter, which keeps the voltage constant, is very important.” Dongwoon Anatech’s DW872x Series of DC/DC converters for AMOLED displays are now being widely supplied to domestic and overseas markets.

Dongwoon Anatech

Caption

Figure 1: Dongwoon Anatech’s driver ICs for LED lighting.