Recently added articles from EDN:
Electronic-system-level design: Is there fire beneath the smoke?
Aug 21, 2008 ... by Ron Wilson, Executive Editor After years of overclaiming and underperforming, ESL design has a role in many design flows. But has anyone noticed? It was a shimmering promise on the horizon: As SOCs (systems on chips) became more complex, we would simply move from ...
Astable multivibrator lights LED from a single cell.
Aug 21, 2008 ... Luca Bruno, ITIS Hensemberger, Monza, Lissone, Italy Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville Lighting LEDs from a single 1.5V 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 ...
IC provides versatile toggle functions.
Aug 21, 2008 ... Louis Vlemincq, Belgacom, Evere, Belgium Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville The circuit in Figure 1 offers not only as many as six channels in a single IC package, but also a high level of additional flexibility. The configuration of Output 1 is a ...
Program an op-amp gain block with a limited-adjustability, monolithic, solid-state resistor.
Aug 21, 2008 ... W Stephen Woodward, Chapel Hill, NC Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville Solid-state replacements for traditional electromechanical trimmer potentiometers are increasingly available in a variety of technologies from a variety of vendors. These replacements have ...
Hang up and drive; hang up and walk.
Aug 21, 2008 ... by Rick Nelson, Editor-in-Chief The cell-phone market is potentially huge. Sanjay K Jha, then chief operating officer of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technology, said in a June 11 Design Automation Conference keynote address that 2 billion people are wireless ...
Lithium-ion capacitor combines more than 100,000 charge cycles, low self-discharge rate.
Aug 21, 2008 ... by Margery Conner Lithium-ion batteries are the current darlings of the automotive world because of their potential for finally making electric vehicles practical. They are not without their drawbacks, however, including their relatively limited cycle life. This problem affects ...
FPGA IP completes wireless-backhaul method.
Aug 21, 2008 ... by Graham Prophet Wintegra's third-generation UFE3 (universal-front-end-3) IP (intellectual-property) core for high-channel-density, wireless-backhaul designs provides an upgrade path for designers migrating voice-centric cellular systems to high-capacity data-plus-voice-capable ...
Keithley debuts software upgrade and switch/multimeter options.
Aug 21, 2008 ... by Rick Nelson Keithley Instruments at Semicon West (www.semiconwest.org ), which took place in San Francisco last month, introduced Version 7.1 of the KTEI (Keithley Test Environment Interactive) for the company's Model 4200-SCS semiconductor-characterization system. The ...
Kerf-free wafering technology reduces polysilicon for photovoltaics.
Aug 21, 2008 ... by Ann Steffora Mutschler To substantially reduce the amount of polysilicon within the ingot-to-wafer manufacturing steps and eliminate some of the costly consumables in today's wafer manufacturing, Silicon Genesis has produced solar substrates for photovoltaic applications ...
Organic-distributor growth remains steady in unsteady times.
Aug 21, 2008 ... Edited by Suzanne Deffree In the electronics-distribution industry, merger-and-acquisition activity over the past 20 years has sometimes been as bustling as Grand Central Station during rush hour. A key player in that industry, Digi-Key Corp (www.digikey.com ) has managed a ...
Consumer telematics shifts to in-car connectivity.
Aug 21, 2008 ... Edited by Suzanne Deffree Despite high gas prices and the fact that the automotive industry has hit the skids on the economic downturn in the United States, the consumer-telematics industry continues to see healthy levels of innovation, according to ABI Research ...
IPC Brussels meeting reveals ROHS-revisions concerns.
Aug 21, 2008 ... Edited by Suzanne Deffree If you worry about the possible changes to the ROHS (restriction-of-hazardous-substances) directive, you are not alone. Industry leaders from across the electronics supply chain came together at an IPC (www.ipc.org ) workshop in Brussels this summer to ...
The eyes of the electronic world are watching.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Bonnie Baker Silicon photo sensors have been in electronic circuits since the inception of the era of silicon electronics. More than likely, scientists quickly discovered the photo-sensing characteristics of silicon in the lab, as they worked from the daylight hours into the ...
White spaces: ready for development permits or off-limits?
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Brian Dipert, Senior Technical Editor Is wireless spectrum scarce or abundant? Two coalitions' fresh perspectives on a long-standing issue have produced promising early results, but old-guard opponents are raising implementation roadblocks. The "tragedy of the ...
Free software encircles embedded design.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Warren Webb, Technical Editor Open-source software has become a staple in the embedded-system industry as designers struggle with escalating software complexity on limited budgets. With potentially huge savings on operating software, development tools, recurring ...
Simple toggle circuits illustrate low power-MOSFET leakage.
Aug 07, 2008 ... Tom Bruhns, Mukilteo, WA Edited by Martin Rowe and Fran Granville The novelty circuit in Figure 1 illustrates the extremely low gate-leakage current typical of modern power MOSFETs. You can find parts that, in a moderately dry environment, will hold their state for ...
Semicon West boosts solar power.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Rick Nelson, editor-in-chief Will synergies between the solar and the semiconductor industries help boost the use of solar power in North America? That scenario would seem to be a distinct possibility based on the turnout last month at Intersolar North America ...
Revisiting electronic ink.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Robert Cravotta, Technical Editor Electronic ink has changed in the seven years since we last took a look at it. When EDN looked at electronic ink seven years ago, there were two visible commercial approaches to delivering display information. E Ink's ...
High-voltage, low-noise dc/dc converters.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Jim Williams, Linear Technology Corp You can make a 1-kV dc/dc converter with only 100 [micro]v of noise. Photomultipliers, avalanche photodiodes, ultrasonic transducers, condenser microphones, radiation detectors, and similar devices require high-voltage, ...
USB-powered battery charger goes faster, cooler, safer.
Aug 07, 2008 ... by Margery Conner The ubiquitous USB port is becoming an international power-source standard for consumer electronics because it eliminates concerns over differences in regional wall plugs, voltages, and frequencies. Targeting that market, Texas Instruments recently introduced ...