The L297 Stepper Motor Driver IC generates four-phase drive signals for two-phase bipolar and four-phase unipolar stepper motors in microcomputer-controlled applications. The motor can be operated in half-step, normal and ripple drive modes, and onchip PWM chopper circuits allow switched-mode control of the current in the windings. A feature of this device is that it requires only clock, direction and mode input signals. Since the phase is generated internally, the load on the microprocessor and programmer is greatly reduced.