I'm looking for a cheap, minimal parts count way to get 3.3V from 5V USB for my first basic microcontroller boards (can't imagine drawing more than 500mA, neither 1A), not particularly concerned about efficiency,
but I'd very much prefer it to be stable and have little to no noise.
Looking at various electronics boards I have lying around they use either LM317 or AMS1117.
LM317 isn't suitable for 5V->3.3V, so that's out.
At the first glance AMS1117-3.3 seems perfect, costs few cents on lcsc, on the second glance however, it becomes less than perfect once you read that it requires specific tantalum capacitors*, with quite specific ESR(effective series resistence) requirements, which quickly ruins the value proposition of these things.
*requirement which seems to be ignored on quite a few chinese boards, little to no tantalum orange to be seen
Searching this forum I've seen quite a few posts refering to AMS1117 as outdated and just plain out bad.
But if you want a linear voltage regulator replacement(not switching!) for the specific purpose of dropping from 5V(from usb) to 3.3v, what would it be? What are the options?
From my understanding, voltage regulators such as XC6206 with fixed output 3.3v, that work fine with 1uF ceramic capacitors on both input and output are switching regulators?
Most suggested replacements to 1117 I'm seeing online are switching regulators. (if I understand correctly, the regulators with voltage comparator that control a mosfet - would be considered switching?)
I've seen AZ1117 versions of 1117 which claim to be compatible with MLCCs (multi-layer ceramic capacitors), 10uf on input, 22uf on output in their spec page.
As well as noted that people say that large ceramic capacitors have issues with transients (voltage spikes, usually on powerup), would this affect the voltage regulator with AZ1117?