Articles

Increasing ADC resolution Many electronic designs contain an ADC, or more than one, to read various signals and voltages. Often, these ADCs are included as part of the microcontroller (MCU) being used. This means, once you pick your MCU, you have ...

A Planet Analog article, “2N3904: Why use a 60-year-old transistor?” ( Ref. 1 ) by Bill Schweber, inspired some interest in this old transistor and how it’s commonly used, and if any uncommon uses might exist. Here’s one we ...

This is just an ultra-quick blog post about a nostalgic IC: µPC1237. It’s a timeless bipolar analog IC from NEC designed for protecting stereo audio power amplifiers and loudspeakers. I used to see this awesome chip all the time in the ...

The typical anti-log circuit The basic anti-log amplifier looks like the familiar circuit of Figure 1. Figure 1. The typical anti-log circuit has uncertainties related to the reverse current, I S , and is sensitive to temperature. The approximate ...

When to use over brushless alternatives Recent years have seen growing adoption of brushless DC motors. They are smoother and more efficient than brushed motors and have lower maintenance demands and higher torque-to-power ratios. On the other ...

Arc generator modules may be small in scale, but they offer big opportunities for hands-on exploration in electronics. Whether you are experimenting with arc simulation, testing circuit behavior under fault conditions, or simply curious about ...

Back on December 3, 2024, a Design Idea (DI) was published, “Single-supply single-ended inputs to pseudo class A/B differential output amp” ( Ref. 1 ), which created some discussion about using the circuit as a full wave rectifier. The ...

Even switch-mode power supplies with a fixed switching frequency do not always show a continuing pattern of pulses. In some conditions, pulses are omitted for various reasons. This is important to consider for output ripple voltage and EMI effects. ...

Several Design Ideas (DIs) have employed the subject ICs to implement programmable current sources in an innovative manner ( References 1-3 ). Figure 1 shows the idea. Figure 1. Two independent current sources, one for loads referenced to the more ...

Introduction In many applications, it is not possible to measure distance to the target by establishing a physical contact. Typical examples include measuring presence of objects on a conveyor belt in logistic centers, or ensuring safety distances ...