Articles - 8

One of our technicians recently asked for help determining the value of an SMT inductor. It was unmarked, and was many turns of very fine wire on a ferrite core. The resistance measured 26 Ω, which for some reason gave our ancient LCR bridge ...

Boost converters, like other switchers, have traditionally received their control signals from a dedicated circuit. However, a recent trend is to integrate simple switching-power-supply building blocks into generic devices, such as ...

To test a gigabit-speed data-recovery chip, you need a clock with a controllable duty cycle. Because most pattern and clock generators have a fixed duty-cycle output of 50%, the design may require a small circuit to distort the duty cycle. The ...

These days, much of the news coverage and discussion in the semiconductor industry is about devices based on the new wide bandgap (WBG) materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) The medium-to-high power applications that ...

Here are some simple tips for servo systems that may improve productivity and prevent costly downtime. To help engineers and design teams get all the performance possible from servo systems, here are some of the more troublesome servo predicaments ...

There are two basic filter topologies that everyone recommends when they start to design their signal chain: multiple-feedback (MFB) or Sallen-Key topologies. But what are the differences and why would you choose one over the other? MFB filtering ...

Simplicity and low cost sustain the popularity of passive PWM DAC ripple filters despite their limitations. One of these limitations is a high output impedance caused by the series sum of filter resistance(s) (R F in Figure 1, one resistor for each ...

You use limit switches to switch off a motor if it reaches one of its two end positions. Even if you build a microprocessor-based motor controller, you should switch off a motor with hardware by building a safety interlock. Such a circuit works by ...

They both have advantages and limitations. So which one is right for your application? It is an engineering truism that there is no such thing as a perfect solution just the best solution for the problem at hand. That holds particularly true for ...

Sometimes, the need arises for a low-distortion buffer amplifier capable of handling bipolar signals. You can use an op amp or integrated buffer for these applications, but for more flexibility, a discrete design may prove useful. Applications ...