Articles and news - 2

Pass transistor lowers dropout voltage
Pass transistor lowers dropout voltage
05.21.2023 Circuits

With linear regulators, you measure dropout voltage, VIN – VOUT, at the minimum input voltage for which the IC sustains regulation. Low dropout means longer battery life, because the load circuit continues to operate while the battery discharges to a lower terminal voltage...

200 Converter APD Bias
5 V to 200 V Converter for APD Bias
05.18.2023 Circuits

Avalanche photodiodes require high voltage bias. Design provides 200 V from a 5 V input...

Isolated driver forms solid-state circuit breaker
Isolated driver forms solid-state circuit breaker
05.17.2023 Circuits

The circuit allows standard TTL logic levels to safely drive a high-power dc load. The circuit provides for both signal and ground isolation as well as a solid-state circuit breaker...

Automatic load sensing saves power high
Automatic load sensing saves power in high voltage converter
05.16.2023 Circuits

There are a surprising number of high output voltage applications for micropower DC/DC converter family. These applications include electroluminescent panels, specialized sensing tubes and xenon strobes...

Slow diodes or handy timing devices
Slow diodes or handy timing devices?
05.15.2023 Articles

Most designers consider slowness in diodes to be an imperfection or a limitation. Why not take a more positive view of the situation... 

1Hz-100MHz V-F converter
1Hz-100MHz V-F converter
05.12.2023 Circuits

Circuit achieves a wider dynamic range and higher output frequency than any commercially available voltage to frequency converter. Its 100 MHz fullscale output is at least ten times faster than available units...

Circuit level-shifts ac signals
Circuit level-shifts ac signals
05.09.2023 Circuits

AC signals can emanate from many sources, and many of these sources are incompatible with the most popular interface voltages, such as TTL. A temptation always exists to capacitively couple the ac signals because capacitive coupling strips off the dc level...

My favorite design idea all time
My favorite design idea of all time…
05.04.2023 Articles

The editors of EDN will tell you that the Design Ideas section is the most popular section of the website, this goes back to the print editions, where that was the first section that most if not all readers turned to first upon getting a new issue...

Turn set reset latch into an
Turn a set/reset latch into an astable/monostable multivibrator
05.03.2023 Circuits

This Design Idea describes a simple way to form a reliable astable or monostable multivibrator from a set/reset latch. You may find it useful because it lets you minimize the number of standard digital ICs...

Set DC input-stage gain attenuation over
Set DC input-stage gain/attenuation over a 96 dB range with PWM
04.28.2023 Circuits

Pulse width modulation is a simple and inexpensive (therefore popular!) way to implement moderate performance (e.g., 8 bit resolution low speed) digital to analog conversion, but improvising cheap DACs isn’t the only thing PWM can do...