CMOS devices have large input impedance with input currents on the order of 0.01 nA. Adding feedback circuitry can result in a latch-like device that can be used to store bits...
Articles and news - 10
Detect wire breaks with unusual CMOS gate circuit
Dual comparators stabilize proximity detector
In the proximity detector, a 4-in.-sq piece of copper-plated pc board serves as an antenna that forms one plate of a capacitor...
Astable multivibrator lights LED from a single cell
Lighting LEDs from a single 1.5 V cell poses a problem because their forward voltages are higher than the cell’s. The simplest way to light the LED is to use a step-up dc/dc converter. This Design Idea offers a simple and reliable alternative...
Hall effect split-core current sensor calibration station
Recently, I’ve been working on a solar off-grid monitoring system. In the system are a few split-core Hall effect sensors to monitor DC current in the solar panel current, the battery charge current, and the inverter input current...
Oscillating Output Improves System Security
Many electronic-control systems have digital outputs that use transistors. One method of improving the security in these outputs is to use an oscillating signal to represent a logic-high state instead of a fixed voltage level...
Precision thermocouple amplifier
This precision thermocouple sensor module performs cold-junction compensation and digitizes the signal from any type of thermocouple. The output data is formatted in degrees Celsius...
The Shannon decoder: A (much) faster alternative to the PWM DAC
Readers will recognize the famous name Claude Elwood Shannon, widely renowned as the “father of information theory” and originator of many discoveries and inventions. Among these is an elegant and pioneering design idea for a DAC called the Shannon Decoder...
Boost converter generates three analog rails
The standard boost converter uses not only IC1, C1, L 1, D1, and C2 to generate a main 5 V output, but also additional small, low-cost components to provide two auxiliary supply rails of 10 and –5 V...
Circuit forms single-pulse voltage multiplier
It is sometimes necessary for a microcontroller to generate a pulse whose voltage is higher than the power-supply voltage of the microcontroller...
Lowest On-resistance 150 V and 200 V Transistors on the Market Now Shipping from GaN Leader EPC
EPC introduces the 150 V, 3 mΩ EPC2305 and the 200 V, 5 mΩ EPC2304 GaN FETs in a thermally enhanced QFN package with exposed top and tiny 3 mm × 5 mm footprint...