Posts by Nick Alexeev
ESD precautions can save a lot of tedious failure analysis. A very inconvenient thing about ESD is that a failure can be attributed to ESD only by ruling out every other possible cause. ESD failu...
This type of symbol isn't standard or common. Those are electrolytic capacitors. The short bar is the positive terminal.
The efficiency of the LDO is a function of the input and output voltages. $$\eta = \frac {P_{out}} {P_{in}} = \frac {I_{out} V_{out}} {I_{in} V_{in}}$$$I_{out} \approx I_{in}$ for a series linear ...
What are the essential safety features of such types of hardware? One option to make such hardware safer is to make it battery powered. What other safety features are generally recommended? ...
If a data sheet gives the thermal noise (of +3/-3 standard deviations) as 1 uVpp does it mean that out of every thousand samples, 3 will have noise more than ±1 uV at any sample rate? 1000 sps wi...
[Disclaimer. This is not for an academic class. I'm self-studying.] I’m reading an introductory book on DSP for audio and computer music [Steiglitz 1996, ISBN 0-8053-1684-1 p. 287]. One of the ...
Flex with stiffeners The main purpose of flex with stiffeners is to be able to place SMT components onto the flex board. Without a stiffener a flex has a somewhat undetermined shape, and pick&...
I have a hunch that the AC which flows through the isolation transformer has quite a bit higher frequency than 1 MHz. The first piece of evidence is this sentence in the datasheet. Each time a ...
[I used to work at Microchip.] Is it [node size] at all important [for power management ICs] ? For power conversion ICs cutting edge MOSFETs on the scale of 5nm aren't important, because powe...
Command protocols which use strings are a norm. They use more bytes compared to binary protocols, but they are human readable. If the UART itself isn’t a bottleneck, then command strings are a go...
I normally use the IPC A footprints because they have the largest pads, and they lend themselves to manual rework. I tend to use 0603 for resistors and capacitors. My boards with IPC A are machin...
Since the inductor never sees the full 500V across its terminals (This is an assumption, please correct if this is not true) The inductor sees $ V_{out} - V_{in} + V_{diode} $ during the part ...
The sensed current may be at a +90V potential (VIN). The LTC2063 op-amp power supply range goes only to +5.25V . It's not a high voltage op-amp. So, the op-amp in this circuit floats just below ...
If it is important, how crucial is it that the polygon completely overlaps the ground plane beneath it? A power polygon can hang off the side a of a power plane. Complete overlap isn't crucia...
synopsis Achievable by using a rail-to-rail op-amp. A small bias on the non-inverting input improves the transient response of the op-amp. That’s the second circuit in the O.P. I use such top...
I've got a is self-powered USB device, which means that I have to do VBUS detection. The device is built around STM32G474. Unlike some other STM32s, the STM32G4 don't have a dedicated pin for VBUS...
I want to create a schematic symbol and reuse it for multiple ICs which have identical pinouts. For example, op-amps, or the venerable SN74LS00, SN74HC00, SN74HCT00. How can I do this in an Altiu...
[I’m asking this question out of curiosity. I understand that this aspect of the CAN bus specification is what it is, and can not change.] The ACK bit in any CAN data frame is dominant. Each rece...
A MOSFET has its gate, source and drain on the top side [1]. These structures are sitting on top of the substrate, which is also called body or bulk. The source and drain are n-doped, while the...
So is a HAL really just a collection of functions that when called set/reset specific register bits for my specific microcontroller? The HAL created by ST for the STM32 is a relatively thin wr...
There may be workaround, potentially, although I haven't done it. Neither have I used the AD5941. The GPIO2 has an output function for synchronizing external device. Configure it for synchroniza...
Here's how I usually lay out optional grounding through a mounting hole. The connections are wide copper pours which reduces the connection inductance. Multiple vias to GND also reduce inductance...
Length matching the SWDIO and SWCLK doesn't make sense, as @Lundin have mentioned already. What about shielding? MB2131 is a radio module. Maybe they were concerned that unshielded SWD lines can...
From my own thinking, I guess "x+" and "x-" denote over- and under- doped semiconductors, is that correct? "+" stands for heavy doping. "-" stands for light doping. n+ and p+ are heavily dop...
Furthermore, an amplifier symbol called "gm" is labeled as transconductor. What does it do? Transconductors are voltage-controlled current sources, but what are they doing here? The diagram lo...
