Activity for Mu3
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Question | — |
Regulated charge pump design I am working with an IC that uses a partially intergrated regulated charge pump. The circuit looks like this: Charge pump circuit It behaves like a voltage doubler. However, when looking at other regulated charge pumps I am coming across much simpler designs such as this on for example: Othe... (more) |
— | about 1 month ago |
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What are some best practices for library management? Most CAD packages use a "symbol" and "footprint" library approach when it comes to designing schematics and PCBs. Some (like recent versions of Altium) have "component" libraries where symbols and footprints can be assigned to a component which is then stored in a library. Furthermore, a designer ... (more) |
— | 7 months ago |
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Soft-start circuit behaviour Let's take a soft-start circuit that looks like this: Soft-start circuit schematic To my understanding, the function can be described as follows: - C1 charges to open the gate. Value of C1 will dictate the soft-start delay. - R2 and R1 form a divider that establishes a bias on the gate voltag... (more) |
— | 8 months ago |
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Using arc trace routing instead of 45 degree trace routing Most modern CAD software for PCB design offers arc trace routing or a form of conversion between 45/90 degree angel trace routing and arc trace routing. Despite this, the overwhelming majority of commercial-grade PCBs seem to still be using 45/90 degree traces. A similar question has been asked be... (more) |
— | about 1 year ago |
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What are the key programming skills for an embedded systems engineer? I am looking to improve my knowledge of embedded systems programming, specifically regarding microcontrollers and embedded Linux systems. A lot of the information that can be found regarding C/C++ programming, and programming in general, discusses programming for desktop PCs. In my opinion, embedd... (more) |
— | over 1 year ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Altium. Reusing schematic symbols for pin-compatible parts. New versions of Altium (22.x) changed their approach to component libraries. You now create components, to which a symbol and several footprints can be tied. This allows you to reuse symbols across your component library (Altium doc). Additionally, you can use generic components in your designs to... (more) |
— | almost 2 years ago |
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Pick & place file generated by Altium does not match the actual component rotations/positions I am generating files for manufacturing my design in Altium 22 and ordering through Eurocircuits. What I noticed during the ordering process is that the rotation of many components (and sometimes the position) is incorrect. Most often, a component will be rotated by 90 degrees off of what it shoul... (more) |
— | almost 2 years ago |
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A: Let's make all downvotes public It seems to me like the goal of the proposed change is to fight vandalism. I am pretty certain that no online forum has found a way to stop trolls, simply because trolling is one of the ways people interact with people. I also do not see such a critical need for it. You specifically mention the la... (more) |
— | about 2 years ago |
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A: Creating a FAQ: how to read a datasheet I think the Papers section can be suitable. In the category description post it says: > Example of paper topics: [...] A survey of scattered information, with the paper putting it all in one place. A self-answered question would also work well, I think, as such questions are also popular on th... (more) |
— | about 2 years ago |
| Question | — |
Via on pad: acceptable or not? I am designing a PCB with somewhat limited space. To save space, I am placing some vias on component pads. However, I am not sure if this is a good practice in PCB design. As far as I understand, there are certain pros and cons for such designs. Pros - Lower impedance for circuits where this m... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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How long does it take for energy to propagate in a circuit? The premise In a recent video by the pop-sci channel Veritasium, the concept of the flow of electricity and energy transmission in a circuit was discussed. In that video a thought experiment is presented: Thought experiment The video concludes that, after the switch is flipped, the lightbulb... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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Quality control of the site Let's take a look at the state of affairs for the past few weeks on this forum. For the past two weeks, some users has been posting a lot of questions, a lot of them self-answered. This is not a problem per se, as sharing knowledge is very important. But let's look at these questions. They are ... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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Type II compensation network for a non-ideal transconductance amplifier I am designing a DC/DC converter in the control loop of which a transconductance amplifier (OTA) is used. This part of circuit looks like this: Compensator To determine the needed characteristics, I am using a transfer function provided by the manufacturer (AD). However, today I decided to check ... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
| Question | — |
Input offset voltage/bias current noise contribution in operational amplifiers In noise analysis of operational amplifiers, the following is considered: Noise generated by the external components (resistors in feedback network etc.) Noise generated by the operational amplifier itself Manufacturers provide "input-referred" voltage and current noise specifications for ... (more) |
— | almost 3 years ago |
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What is the purpose of paralleling capacitors on the input/output of a power converter? In the design of a power converter, picking the appropriate capacitors for the input and output of the converter is quite important. It is relatively easy to calculate the necessary values for a given application. However, in many datasheets it is suggested to use a capacitor network instead of a ... (more) |
— | almost 3 years ago |
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Design considerations for a synchronous DC/DC converter In the field of DC/DC conversion, one can build a synchronous DC/DC converter (also referred to as synchronous rectification). This practice involves replacing a diode with a MOSFET switch. As far as I understand, this is a beneficial practice since the MOSFET will dissipate much less power than a... (more) |
— | about 3 years ago |
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A: Why 3.3V instead of 3V? This question popped up in the feed and I got curious. Here is what I could find. Note that I am not an IC engineer so my interpretation of some facts may be off. The 3.3V level is defined in the JESD8 standard. It was made by JEDEC. 3.3V is a stepping stone on the path of decreasing supply vol... (more) |
— | about 3 years ago |
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Why do DC/DC switching controllers seem to favour the buck-boost topology over similar ones like Cuk, SEPIC and Zeta? I am looking at various DC/DC converter topologies for a power system I am designing. The most suitable topology for me is one that can perform both step-up and step-down functions, so I am looking into buck-boost and similar topologies like Cuk, SEPIC and Zeta. While selecting the candidate ICs f... (more) |
— | about 3 years ago |