I'm making a toy with two motors which need to be bidirectional and preferably speed controlled with PWM.
This is the motor(s): https://solarbotics.com/product/gm24/
I plan to use the Arduino Pro Minis PWM outputs: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11114
I'll be using 4 AAA batteries to power the whole thing. I realize that AAA wont drive motors for very long. Due to the nature of the toy, I expect a *very* low duty cycle.
I've found stuff like this: http://www.st.com/st-web-ui/static/active/en/resource/technical/document/datasheet/CD00000240.pdf for pretty cheap, but I don't know if it's a bit overkill for this fairly low power application (or whether it'll get along with a PWM input). More importantly though, I'm trying to optimize for cost (girlfriend and I plan to hand make several of these toys for sale :-)
Is there another IC that costs even less for handling lower voltages/powers? I would be perfectly fine learning how to design an H-bridge if it means I could make something that was cheaper, but I'm skeptical that I can beat an IC that's designed for this specific job. Thanks!