Analog designers often need matched resistors for their circuits [ 1 ]. The best solution is to buy integrated resistor networks [ 2 ], but what can you do if the parts vendors do not offer the desired values or matching grade? The circuit in ...
The 16-bit DACs are a de facto standard for high DC accuracy and precision domain conversion, but surprisingly few are fully 16-bit (0.0015%) precise. Even when described as “high precision,” some have inaccuracy and integral ...
Stephen Woodward’s DI, “Flip ON Flop OFF” ( Ref, 1 ) does a wonderful job for DC voltages. I thought of extending this idea to much-needed AC voltages, as all our gadgets work with AC voltages. Figure 1 shows the compact circuitry ...
The circuit below will trickle charge a four cell pack of AA or AAA NiMH batteries. The circuit draws current from the +5 v available a USB connection and pumps about 70 mA of current into the battery. This should be enough current to fully charge ...
I designed and built this thing many years ago. I published the hobby circuit in the now defunct “Radio Elecronics” magazine back in 1992. The electronic circuit injects a precise 1 Amp of current into any unknown resistor, up to about ...
I recently published a Design Idea (DI) showing some very simple circuits for PWM programming of standard regulator chips, both linear and switching, “Revisited: Three discretes suffice to interface PWM to switching regulators” ( Ref. 1 ...
An inverter provides power backup for mains-based appliances in the event of a power failure. Most of the inverters available in the market have complicated circuit designs and are not very economical. Some of them produce a square-wave output, ...
Recently (5/21/25), I published a Design Idea (DI) describing a bidirectional current mirror using just two transistors and a diode, “A two-way mirror current mirror that is” ( Ref. 1 ). That circuit works well in some applications, ...
Designing an analog circuit can be a frustrating experience, as noted by Nick Cornford in his Design Idea (DI), “DIY RTD for a DMM” ( Ref. 1 ). With a fortnight’s struggle, I completed the design of 4 mA to 20 mA, two-wire ...
At its invention roughly four decades ago, STM (scanning tunneling microscopy) created a sensation because it was the first technology to make atomic-scale-resolution imaging a routine procedure. An essential requirement for the practical ...