Boost converter built to drive a string of white LEDs at constant current, the classic backlight driver. It steps a 3 to 5.5 V input up to as much as 38 V to push current through several LEDs in series, holding the current constant so brightness stays even, and a single CTRL pin dims the string either by a simple PWM or by TI's EasyScale one-wire digital protocol. External FB and COMP set the current and loop. A compact backlight and indicator-string driver.

Pinout

Pin	Name	Type	Function
1	VIN	power_in	Input supply pin for the IC. Connect to a 3-V to 18-V supply with a ≥ 1 µF bypass capacitor. UVLO rising ~2.5 V with 70 mV hysteresis.
2	CTRL	input	Multifunction control pin for enable, one-wire EasyScale digital dimming, and PWM dimming (5 kHz-100 kHz). Logic high ≥ 1.2 V, logic low ≤ 0.4 V; internal 800-kΩ pull-down. Holding low > 2.5 ms shuts the device down.
3	SW	power_out	Switching node of the internal 40-V N-channel MOSFET (RDS(on) = 0.3 Ω typ, ILIM = 1.2 A). Connect the switched side of the boost inductor here; also senses output voltage for 38-V open-LED protection.
4	GND	power_in	Device ground return. Also the reference for the thermal pad, which should be soldered to the analog ground plane.
5	COMP	output	Output of the transconductance error amplifier. Connect an external capacitor (e.g. 220 nF) to compensate the loop; Gea = 320 umho typ, Rea = 6 MΩ.
6	FB	input	Feedback pin for LED current sensing. Connect the sense resistor (Rset) from FB to GND; regulated feedback voltage is 200 mV (typ, 2% accuracy).

Key specifications

Parameter	Value
Type	White-LED boost driver (constant current)
Input	3-5.5 V
Output	Up to 38 V (LED string)
Dimming	PWM or EasyScale 1-wire (CTRL)
Switch	Integrated
Current set	External (FB)
Package	SOT-23-6

Ordering variants

Same part, different packaging or reel option.

TPS61165DBVR (SOT-23-6)
TPS61165DBVT (SOT-23-6, small reel)

CAD (KiCad official)

Symbol: Driver_LED:TPS61165DBV (KiCad official)
Footprint: Package_TO_SOT_SMD:SOT-23-6
3D model: SOT-23-6 (KiCad packages3D, STEP)

Provenance

Data extracted from the manufacturer datasheet, not a distributor listing:

Datasheet: Texas Instruments datasheet (38 pp, sha256 d3515134b3388868, retrieved 2026-08-17, tier: manufacturer)
Extractor: ds2sf (Claude). Every pin and dimension is cited to a datasheet page; it refuses to fabricate.
CAD: KiCad official libraries (CC-BY-SA 4.0).

Datasheet PDF