Controllers can offer a variety of features that aren’t found in many converter designs. These features provide versatility and greater ease of use such as:

• Adjustable current limit, which allows for the use of one device to be used across designs and loads with minimal BoM adjustment.
• Internal or external compensation. While internal compensation is favored for design simplicity, external compensation can be considered when a customer wants to optimize their designs for load variation performance and stability or minimizing required output capacitance.
• Fixed Vout settings, reducing BoM for common outputs such as 3.3V, 5V and 12V

Some converters like LM70880-Q1 include these controller-like features, offering greater versatility for various applications.