In many electronic circuits, there is always a demand for a device to isolate or separate one circuit from another. This special device is called a buffer...
Articles and news - 2
4× JFET buffer amplifier cuts noise in half
Reducing error of digital potentiometers
A common problem for digital potentiometers (DigiPots) is the effect of wiper resistance, which produces quite noticeable non-linearities of regulation at both ends of the resistance range...
RC-timed shutoff function uses op amp and momentary switch
A handheld, battery-operated “fiber finder” measures the light escaping from an optical fiber when clamped in a V-shaped block under slight pressure. A pair of photodiodes on each side of the resulting bend compares analog levels...
Solar day-lamp with active MPPT and no ballast resistors
When the Sun is shining and illumination is needed inside a dimly lit interior space, a popular, proven, and highly efficient solution is to utilize the energy of available sunlight in the simplest and most sustainable fashion conceivable...
Difference amplifier measures high voltages
Figure shows two large-signal- measurement methods. The first uses a two-resistor voltage divider and an output buffer, and the second comprises an attenuating inverter and a high-value input resistor...
Portable thermal anemometer hot-transistor bias compensation nulls battery discharge droop
All thermal anemometers work by inferring air speed from measurements of thermal impedance (Z) between a heated sensor and the surrounding air...
Ultra-low distortion oscillator. Part 2 - The real deal
In Part 1 of this article, we briefly looked at the Wien bridge oscillator before homing in on the bi-quad filter as our best candidate for an oscillator capable of giving <0.0001%/–120 dB distortion, and showed its full circuit...
Ultra-low distortion oscillator. Part 1 - How not to do it
Over the years, the Design Ideas (DI) column has featured many interesting oscillators, but none that I can recall was specifically designed to produce a really clean sine wave...
Getting positive results from NTC thermistors with a simple passive interface
Given their generally low cost, small size, robust construction, accuracy, versatility, and sensitivity, it’s no wonder that basic negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors rate among the most popular temperature sensors available. However, their temperature response function is highly nonlinear...
I2C active pullup is power thrifty
The popular I2C communication standard manages to perform flexible serial I/O with just a super simple two pin bus: SCL and SDA. It accomplishes this trick with bidirectional timing and data flow...
