An Introduction for Motor Driver IC ULN2003

The ULN2003 are high voltage, high current Darlington arrays containing seven open collectors Darlington pairs with common emitters. Each channel rated at 500 mA and can withstand peak currents of 600 mA. Suppression diodes are included for inductive load driving and the inputs are pinned opposite the outputs to simplify board layout.

The versions interface to all common logic families:

– ULN2001 (general purpose, DTL, TTL, PMOS, CMOS)

– ULN2002 (14 - 25 V PMOS)

– ULN2003 (5 V TTL, CMOS)

– ULN2004 (6 - 15 V CMOS, PMOS)

These versatile devices are useful for driving a wide range of loads including solenoids, relays

DC motors, LED displays filament lamps, thermal printheads, and high power buffers.

The ULN2003A are supplied in 16 pin plastic DIP packages with a copper lead frame to reduce thermal resistance. They are available also in small outline package (SO-16) as ULN2003D1.

PCB Symbol - STMicroelectronics ULN2003A

PCB Footprint - STMicroelectronics ULN2003A3D Model - STMicroelectronics ULN2003A

■ Seven Darlingtons per package

■ Output current 500 mA per driver (600 mA peak)

■ Output voltage 50 V

■ Integrated suppression diodes for inductive loads

■ Outputs can be paralleled for higher current

■ TTL/CMOS/PMOS/DTL compatible inputs

■ Inputs pinned opposite outputs to simplify layout

STMicroelectronics ULN2003A technical specifications, attributes, parameters and parts with similar specifications to STMicroelectronics ULN2003A.

ULN2003 Schematic diagram

The ULN2003 is a 16-pin integrated circuit. It contains seven Darlington Pairs, each capable of driving loads up to 50V and 500mA. We have seven Input and Output Pins for these seven Darlington Pairs. We may also add a ground and a common pin to the mix. The ground pin is grounded as is customary, and the use of the Common pin is optional. It can come as a surprise that this IC lacks a Vcc (power) pin; this is due to the fact that the power needed for the transistors to function will be drawn from the input pin itself. The circuit below is a basic circuit that can be used to evaluate the ULN2003 IC's functionality.

Consider the LEDs to be the loads in the circuit, and the logic pins (blue color) to be the pins attached to the digital circuit or microcontroller like the Arduino. The LED's positive pin is connected to the positive load voltage, while the negative pin is connected to the IC's output pin. This is because when the IC's input pin goes heavy, the corresponding output pin goes to earth. When the LED's negative terminal is grounded, the circuit is completed, and the LED glows. Each load connected to the output pin must be no more than 50C and 500mA. However, by combining two or more output pins to gather, you can run higher current loads.

The COM pin is connected to ground through a switch, this connection is optional. It can be used a test switch, meaning when this pin is grounded all the output pins will be grounded.

• Used to drive high current loads using Digital Circuits

• Can be used to drive Stepper motors

• High current LED’s can be driven

• Relay Driver module (can drive 7 relays)

• Logic Buffers in digital electronics

• Used as a Touch sensor for Arduino

DIP-16L package dimensionsDIP-16L mechanical data

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Download datasheets and manufacturer documentation for STMicroelectronics ULN2003A.