The TB67S579FTG is a two‑phase, bipolar stepper motor driver that uses constant current control to deliver smoother and quieter motor operation. Toshiba said the device is designed for a wide range of office, commercial and industrial equipment, including printers, scanners, surveillance cameras, projectors, ATMs, 3D printers and sewing machines.
The new IC is the first Toshiba product to incorporate Advanced Microstep Technology, which combines three functions: second‑generation Active Gain Control (AGC2), a newly developed Automatic Wave Generation System (AWGS), and Continuous Microstepping. Continuous Microstepping generates a smooth, sinusoidal motor current waveform, significantly reducing vibration and acoustic noise, particularly at low rotational speeds.
AWGS is intended to simplify motor control by enabling microstepping operation using a single clock signal, similar to full‑step control. This allows systems to switch smoothly between full‑step operation for rapid torque generation and microstepping for quieter operation, without changing control signals. Toshiba said this approach can reduce the processing load on microcontrollers.
AGC2 improves efficiency by detecting the motor’s induced voltage during operation to estimate load conditions and automatically adjust the drive current. Under light loads, the motor can run at a lower current, reducing power consumption while maintaining torque stability.
The driver supports both traditional GPIO control and a serial configuration interface, allowing advanced features such as microstepping resolution, AGC2 and decay modes to be adjusted without increasing pin count. The output stage has a typical on‑resistance of 0.6Ω, while sleep‑mode current is limited to a maximum of 1µA.
Designed for compact systems, the TB67S579FTG operates from a single motor supply ranging from 4.5V to 34V and integrates Toshiba’s Advanced Current Detection System, removing the need for external current sense resistors. A built‑in charge pump also eliminates the requirement for an external capacitor, helping to reduce board space and bill‑of‑materials cost.
Additional features include Advanced Dynamic Mixed Decay for higher rotation speeds, along with protection functions such as overcurrent detection, thermal shutdown, under‑voltage lockout, error flag output, and open‑load and stall detection. The IC is supplied in a 7.0mm × 7.0mm VQFN48 package, targeting space‑constrained designs.