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DAC Essentials: What’s with all this glitch-ing?
When designing with a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), you expect the output to move from one value to the next monotonically, but real circuits don’t always behave that way. It’s not uncommon to see...
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How to determine the power at output of modulator from DAC back-off level
Customers often ask how they can determine the power at the output of modulator from digital analog converter (DAC) back-off level. Sometimes this can be confusing as modulator gain is specified in...
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Analog and the new industrial revolution
Welcome back! If you haven’t had a chance to see my first post, “Engineering the world through analog,” I hope you’ll check it out.In that post we talked about the technology developments going on even...
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How to determine if a CFA or a VFA is better for your design
My amplifier buddy, Xavier Ramus, recently wrote a great blog on current feedback amplifiers that I wanted to elaborate on and add a few more pros and cons.What’s the basic difference between a current...
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Clamp your amp!
Many analog systems must accommodate very large range of signal amplitudes with excellent fidelity, or low distortion. At the same time, some signal chain components are damaged by signals that are...
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DAC Essentials: Glitch-be-gone
In my last DAC Essentials post, I discussed the source of output glitching in precision digital-to-analog converters (DACs). These output pulses can disrupt system behavior when you’re expecting a...
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Current sensing revisited
Back a couple of years ago, TI systems engineer, Jerry Steele, put out a great video called “Current Sensing: Low Side, High Side, and Zero Drift” on the different methods for current sensing. In the...
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How to determine power gain and voltage gain in RF systems
I’m hearing more and more customers ask ”how does gain through a signal chain change with different load impedances?" And, "when does voltage gain and power gain coincide when measured in dB?” I...
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What is this "unlimited cap load" stuff anyway?
As analog engineers we’ve had the occasion, at one time or another, to build an amplifier or control loop, and we’ve all experienced the frustration of finding out that the circuit is unstable. The...
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Analog drives automotive solutions
Welcome back once again! My last post honed in on some of the latest innovations in the industrial segment. Check it out here. In today’s post I want to take a closer look at the automotive industry...
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How "CAN" you make safe circuits safer? Redundancy!
Any accident reported in the news makes me we wonder about safety – not just in planes, trains and automobiles but everywhere around us. What if the train ride I enjoyed had a problem with the sensor...
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Turn up the heat: Packaging is essential to protect your parts
In my last blog post, Turn up the heat, we talked about high temperature flash memory and the need for electronics in very harsh environments. One of the biggest areas of concern for product designers...
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High-speed design: Why phase noise matters!
I often find myself working on problems related to noise. It is the enemy of most analog systems and often difficult to control. It’s everywhere in our environment and systemic to our electronics. Thus...
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Wanted: Stable oscillator
When dealing with high speed amplifiers, it’s common to have unwanted oscillations because of parasitic or loop gain issues. It’s possible to predict the frequency range of these oscillations, but not...
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The need for speed: Turbo-charged CAN
WTHAYTA? What the heck are you talking about? Do you feel that you are always surrounded by people using acronyms and you do not know what they mean? With multiple definitions for the same acronym, you...
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SINAD, ENOB and the rest of the family
My wife, who’s not an engineer, recently heard me talk about SINAD and ENOB. After sometime she asked “who are SINAD and ENOB?” She was confused because I use these terms so loosely, a common misstep...
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A closer look at special function amplifiers
Have you ever wondered why there are so many variations when it comes to special function amplifiers? Here, we’ll cover some of those variations and how to best use them in your designs.Special...
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What you should know about Thunderbolt™
Jumping onto the PC connectivity scene recently, Thunderbolt™ technology has emerged as the fastest way to transfer data between a PC and peripheral and display devices. Developed by Intel with...
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DAC Essentials: Understanding your DAC's speed limit
In the last two “DAC Essentials” posts, Tony Calabria introduced a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) dynamic specification called glitch and discussed common techniques to “de-glitch” your DAC.Today,...
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High-current pulsed-source needed
I’ve spent a lot of time in labs over the past fifteen years or so evaluating devices and coming up with new measurement methodologies and approaches. One scenario that I haven’t come across is a...
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