Linear Technology's recently introduced LTC4300 chip buffers I2C clock and data lines to and from a hot-swappable card. This task is difficult because the IC must work bidirectionally, meaning that you can simultaneously and actively drive both sides...
Two-transistor circuit replaces IC
Bipolar transistor boosts switcher's current by 12 times
The circuit uses a minimal number of external parts to raise the maximum output current of a 0.5 A buck switching-regulator IC to more than 6 A. The circuit accommodates input voltages of 15 to 60 V and delivers output voltages of 3.3, 5, or 12 V...
Pulse generator with precision output-duty cycle operates at a repetition rate beyond 50 MHz
A previous Design Idea describes an astable multivibrator that gets hysteresis from the positive feedback stage using a technique you can characterize as positive-capacitive feedback. It creates hysteresis by a charge transfer to its main timing-capacitor...
Supply Bootstrapping Reduces Distortion In Op-Amp Circuits
New operational amplifiers optimized for high-performance audio and ultrasound applications combine extremely low total harmonic distortion plus noise (THD+N), –130 dB, with large output voltages on heavy, 600-Ω loads. One would think this might be the universal building block. In real life, it’s a bit more complex...
Astable multivibrator gets hysteresis from positive-feedback stage
Many designs exist for logic-based astable multivibrators, one of the simplest being an RC feedback loop around a single inverting Schmitt trigger inverter...
Shunt regulator provides overvoltage protection
The circuit uses a typical technique for varying the output voltage of a power supply via a programmable control voltage. Although the topology and schematic details of the power supply are not critical, the protection technique is novel...
Generate a pulse width that is inversely proportional to the square root of an analog voltage
The circuit is an edge-triggered monostable circuit, based on a previous design of an edge-triggered parabolic-pulse generator...
Positive edges trigger parabolic timebase generator
Nonlinear systems often need to become linear to be useful, and the circuit provides a nonlinear sawtooth pulse for a PWM (pulse-width modulator) that can compensate for nonlinearities in sensors, controllers, or systems...
Memory-termination IC balances charges on series capacitors
As one of today's most interesting component families, high-value capacitors offer ratings ranging from tenths to tens of farads but suffer from relatively low working voltages...
Transconductance amp gives oscillator reciprocal response
The circuit is a variation on the familiar integrator/comparator triangle-wave oscillator, which you typically implement with two op amps. An integrator and a comparator connect in a positive-feedback loop; the comparator drives the integrator and vice versa...
