Cirrus Logic announced today a premium audio solution built specifically for PCs that enables a louder, more immersive audio experience, whether listening to voice calls and music from the small internal speakers on ultrathin laptops or from headphones. Cirrus Logic’s PC-optimized audio solution includes the Cirrus Logic CS35L56 smart amplifier packed with processing power to […]
Amplifiers
Zero-drift amplifiers finesse ultralow-frequency signals, part 1
Modern zero-drift amplifiers provide the extremely low drift and noise performance needed for processing many optical biological, and physical-world signals near 0 Hz. In our world of ever-faster, wider-bandwidth signals and systems operating at higher and higher frequencies, it may seem that signals in the very-low-frequency range — down towards zero hertz (0 Hz) — […]
Swapfest: The 2023 season opener
Cambridge, Mass. — On a cold, wet, windy day about two weeks after baseball season opened, the 2023 Swapfest: The Flea at MIT season opened. Ocurring on the third Sunday morning of the month through October, the swapfest isn’t so much for swapping, but more for buying and selling. While I didn’t buy anything on […]
Broadened amplifier line covers VHF, UHF, L, S, C, X and Ku bands
Pasternack has broadened its line of high-power amplifiers engineered for a wide array of market applications in VHF, UHF, L, S, C, X, and Ku bands. This new series of high-power amplifiers provides saturated output power levels ranging from 10 watts to 200 watts and is designed with rugged, military-grade, coaxial packages with an operational temperature range from…
From resistors to antique radios, swapfests have it all
Multifunction GaAs pHEMTs target 100-GHz apps
WIN Semiconductors Corp. has released its newest 0.1µm pHEMT technology: PP10-20. Building on the proven PP10 platform, this second-generation technology offers a substantial transistor gain, improving the ƒt/ƒmax to 160GHz and 240 GHz. These improvements maintain the reliable 4V operation necessary for backhaul power amplifiers and high linearity receivers operating from W-band through D-band. Targeting […]
Amplifier boosts signals from 2 GHz to 18 GHz
The AM1111 amplifier from Atlanta Micro provides 16 dB of gain from 2 GHz to 18 GHz. You can cascade multiple amplifiers to boost signals as needed. Powered by +5 V and packaged in 3 mm QFN package, the AM1111’s input and output provide a 50-Ω DC-blocked impedance.It consumes 500 mW and has a 2.5…
Negotiate through 1/f noise challenges towards sample sizes into the 100s of years
Measuring and determining 1/f voltage noise over a multiple-year sample requires an operational amplifier and effective 1/f knowledge. This article shows how to identify and determine the actual op amp 1/f voltage noise across a sample size of years and explains why the 1/f voltage noise is a non-issue at higher frequencies. After many years […]
Dual 5-V op amp sports 50-MHz gain-bandwidth, low input offset voltage, 6.5 nV/√Hz input voltage noise
STMicroelectronics’ TSV792 dual 5V operational amplifier (op-amp) combines 50MHz gain-bandwidth with precision attributes including low input offset voltage and extremely low input voltage noise of just 6.5nV/√Hz. The typical 50MHz gain-bandwidth product enables accurate amplification of high-frequency signals. Adding a fast slew rate of 30V/µs, the TSV792 is suited to photodiode-signal conditioning in battery-powered smoke detectors. […]
Sound design considerations for Class D amps
The first two FAQs in this series, “Class D Amplifiers for High-Efficiency Switched-Mode Sound” and “Class D Audio – Why Now?” focused on basic Class D amplifier topologies, modulation techniques, general component and technology advancements that have made Class D amplifiers an increasingly viable option, and the evolving tradeoffs between silicon and GaN power devices. […]