Microcontrollers

Semiconductor laser diodes are often packaged with a photodiode. The output current from this photodiode can be monitored to regulate the output power intensity of the laser diode...

Many voltage regulator chips, both linear and switching, use the same basic two-resistor network for output voltage programming...

Engineers always want to get all they can from their circuits; this holds for analog-to-digital converters. To maximize performance from an ADC, resolution is perhaps the primary spec to focus on...

Receiving infrared signals while conserving system power is difficult, and typically requires the inclusion of complex power-management routines in the firmware. You can avoid that problem by disconnecting power to the microcontroller when IR is not present...

When designing devices with microcontrollers, I like to use some of the analog-to-digital converter inputs to measure onboard voltages along with all the required sensors inputs. This means I often run out of ADC inputs...

Microcontrollers must often read the status of switches in control applications. A typical switch configuration uses pullup resistors on both of the switches to pull the signals high or low for the microcontroller to read...

Texas Instruments introduced the world's smallest MCU, expanding its comprehensive Arm Cortex-M0+ MSPM0 MCU portfolio. Measuring only 1.38 mm2, about the size of a black pepper flake...

It’s remarkable how many switching regulator chips use the same basic two-resistor network for output voltage programming...

For many variable resistor (rheostat) applications, one of the device’s terminals is connected to a voltage source VS. Such a source might be a reference DC voltage, an op amp output carrying an AC plus DC signal, or even ground...

Capturing transient analog signals with a microcontroller normally involves adding a full-fat peak-hold circuit as an external peripheral. This novel approach minimizes that extra hardware by using a µP’s ability to switch its pins between analog and digital modes on the fly...