Happy New Year! Thank you for reading the blog and being part of our community in 2023! We’re looking forward to more open hardware projects, more how-tos, more videos, more free PCBs, and more hacking in 2024.
Author Archives: DP
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. May you find many PCBs and other electronics wizardry under your tree or pole. Remember, support is available on Christmas. Just give us a shout in the forum.
App note: The difference between current sense resistors and hall effect sensors for motor control
App note from Bourns’ comparing current shunt resistors and hall effect current sensing pros and cons. Link here (PDF) Current sensing is an essential design function that is necessary in a broad range of applications. For example, current sensing is needed to detect a battery’s capacity, to measure current flow, or to calculate angles in […]
App note: A simple solution for LED overtemperature protection
Bourns’ new thermal cutoff device for LED protection can be found in this paper. Link here (PDF) Compared to traditional lighting technologies such as incandescent and fluorescent lamps, LED lighting has a much longer life span, consumes far less energy and offers shock and vibration ruggedness. LEDs also produce very little heat and do not […]
App note: Linear motion potentiometers
App note from Bourns on linear motion potentiometers and how they can be used to detect position by voltage division ratio. Link here (PDF) The elements of the LMPs are manufactured with conductive plastic (CP) for extended wear capabilities. Unlike Trimmers, which are “set and forget,” these devices are designed to monitor position and are […]
App note: How Silicon Carbide power schottky diode properties provide enhanced application capabilities
Great read from Bourns’ white paper about the new SiC Schottky diode which revolutionize power handling capability and other benefits compared to Silicon diodes. Link here (PDF) For diode applications, the ideal component would be one with no voltage drop during forward conduction and no leakage current when reverse biased. It would change instantly from […]
App note: Trimmers interfacing with surveillance system sensors
App note from Bourns about the robustness of trimmers used on surveillance system, typically sealed to protect agaisnt harsh environment. Link here (PDF) Trimmer technology is designed for use in applications where the unit must be calibrated before it is shipped to a retailer, and eventually the end user. Typically, these pre-calibrated electronics use a […]
App note: Basics of linear fixed resistors
App note from Vishay going back to the fundamentals of humble fixed resistors. Link here (PDF) In the shadow of microelectronics, passive components such as discrete resistors would seem to have fallen out of the field of view in electronics. Yet, it is the rare circuit that can do without resistors. And a look at […]
App note: Nexperia load switch ICs
Nexperia’s app note on their load switches, combining multiple load switch functions in to one chip. Link here (PDF) Nexperia load switch ICs are highly integrated Power Management Integrated Circuits (PMICs) designed to efficiently control power rails within electronic systems. Load switches serve as indispensable components for managing power distribution and enabling the smooth operation […]
App note: Pierce oscillator fundamentals
The most used oscillator type in microcontrollers is the pierce oscillator, Abracon introduces you to its circuit basics and how the oscillator works. Link here (PDF) Today, the majority of electronic circuits (including microprocessors, microcontrollers, FPGAs, and cPLds) are based on clocked logic, requiring a timing source. depending on the frequency accuracy requirements, some employ […]
App note: Supercapacitors and the potential to revolutionize energy storage power delivery
All about supercapacitors explained in this app note from Abracon. Link here (PDF) While batteries have been a mature technology for over a century, the need for energy storage solutions with faster charging and discharging cycles than traditional batteries has led to the search for a new alternative. Although conventional capacitors offer the fastest charging […]
App note: Ferrite beads basic operations and key parameters
Here’s app note from Abracon for EMI suppression using ferrite beads. Link here (PDF) A ferrite bead is a passive electrical component used to suppress high-frequency noise, EMI, and crosstalk in electronic circuits. They come in different shapes and sizes; some beads are available in the form of clamp-on cores, like the ones found at […]
App note: Power switching RP2040 for low standby current applications
Example circuits for minimal power upon waking up in RP2040 microcontroller present in this app note from Raspberry Pi. Link here (PDF) Even in deep sleep RP2040 draws a typical current of ~180μA, and sleep current is very dependent on PVT: process (current varies from chip to chip), voltage (current varies linearly with voltage), and […]
App note: Gating, Latching, and Holding of SCRs and Triacs
App note from Littelfuse about how to properly use Triacs and SCRs and knowing their operating modes for various application. Link here (PDF) Gating, latching, and holding currents of Thyristors are some of the most important parameters. These parameters and their interrelationship determine whether the SCRs and Triacs will function properly in various circuit applications.
App note: Bandwidth for power amplifiers crash course
App note from Apex Microtechnology on determining the full bandwidth of high power op amp. Link here (PDF) Getting the highest bandwidth out of a Power Op Amp is one of the most common challenges in highpower analog. Whether you’re outputting a 3 MHz sinewave into a semiconductor during testing, or getting the sharpest corners […]
App note: Partial discharge testing and long term reliability
App note from CalRamic Technologies LLC on detecting defects in high voltage capacitor by Partial discharge. Link here (PDF) High reliability life critical systems require enhanced reliability high voltage multilayer ceramic capacitors, thereby necessitating improvements in materials, design, process control, and in-process screening procedures. Given that energy stored in a capacitor is proportional to the […]
App note: Design considerations on Optical force sensing
OSRAM’s app note on their force based sensing by optical reflection. Link here (PDF) An optical force sensing system uses a light emitter and a light sensor that are located side-by-side below a flexible (and reflective) surface. The more forceful a press on that surface, the greater its deflection, the higher the value reported by […]
App note: Handling of ceramic capacitors
Proper handling of ceramic capacitor presented in this app note from CalRamic Technologies LLC. Link here (PDF) Ceramic capacitors are susceptible to mechanical and thermal shock and larger capacitors in particular can be easily damaged if the operator does not pay particular attention to how they handle the device. In addition, care should be taken […]
App note: Very large I2C-bus systems and long buses
I2C-bus utilized on several meters of nodes describe and applied in this app note from NXP Semiconductors. Link here (PDF) The availability of powerful I2C-bus buffers that drive their I/Os on both sides to a nominal ground or ‘zero offset’ logic level allows the removal of noise introduced into one section of a very large […]
App note: Opto-electrical isolation of the I2C-bus (operating the bus between points with different local ground potential)
App note from NXP Semiconductors shows I2C-bus galvanic isolation solution by splitting the bi-directional bus to unidirectional logic signals and passing them through opto-isolator couplers. Link here (PDF) Many systems that can benefit from the advantages of I2C-bus control are not allowed to share any common reference signal (ground) potential. To prevent any chance of […]