BEA Lasers, a manufacturer of rugged laser modules and assemblies, has announced the availability of its OEM line of lasers for demanding applications, ideal for use in Medical and other OEM applications. Quality BEA lasers are designed for use in levelling, alignment and positioning. BEA lasers are provided with packaging to suit customer requirements, including […]
Analog ICs
Eye and Constellation Diagrams, Pt 1
Digital signals representing data symbols may be presumed to be clean, consistent representations of ones and zeroes when they are launched onto their communications medium, whether it is a wired, wireless RF, or optical fiber link. However, due to bandwidth limitations of the medium, external and internal noise, crosstalk, multipath, reflections, and many other unavoidable […]
Hall Effect sensors combine low power consumption with high sensitivity
Silicon Labs brings Hall-effect sensing into the 21st century with a magnetic sensor portfolio offering industry-leading power efficiency, best-in-class sensitivity, flexible I2C configuration, and built-in tamper detection and temperature sensing. Silicon Labs’ new Si72xx portfolio includes the most advanced, feature-rich magnetic sensors available today, outclassing reed switches and traditional Hall-effect devices in a wide range of open/close and position-sensing […]
75-GHz open top socket for BGA1156 packages
A new BGA socket design uses high-performance elastomer capable of 75 GHz bandwidth to give a low inductance and handle wide temperature applications. The GTL-BGA-6007 socket from Ironwood Electronics is designed for a 35×35-mm package size and gives less than 1 dB of insertion loss. The contact resistance is typically 30 milliohms/pin. The socket is […]
Top analog threads on EDAboard.com – August
(editor’s note: Intrigued by the problem? Have a question or another solution? Then click the “Read more” link and follow the conversation on EDAboard.com or log in to EDAboard and participate in the analog forum threads.) MOSFET getting very hot – In this schematic, the VCC feed with a less than 1 A MOSFET gets […]
LG smartphones now include adaptive battery charging
QNI and QNS adaptive charging technology can now be found in recently announced LG Mobile V30 and Q6 smartphones. The LG V30 smartphone is a flagship smartphone using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset with Quick Charge 3. Use of QNI adaptive charging software from Qnovo, with special hardware acceleration available only in the Snapdragon 835, […]
Mixed-signal ICs promise up to 80% system cost savings; online calculator creates estimates in under a minute
S3 Group, a global technology group operating in the semiconductor and connected health industries, has announced a change in strategy for its custom semiconductor business, S3 Semiconductors (S3semi). It will now focus on industrial and communications OEMs, converting their electronic systems and boards into mixed-signal integrated circuits and delivering packaged and tested chips, rather than […]
Getting started in electronics: core components
By “Spec“, Electro-Tech-Online forum member Often newbies ask, ‘How can I get started in electronics?‘ This is a big question, but the very short answer is, ‘Learn the two fundamental electronics laws (Kirchoff, Ohm), get a good book about electronics theory and practical, build some circuits, and make some measurements.’ Follow-on questions are, ‘What electronic […]
Top 10 Electronics Inventions
I don’t mean the transistor radio or mobile phone, but electronic devices and circuits that have been significant and enduring. Some are not necessarily “inventions”, depending on how you define an invention, but significant designs, devices or techniques. It will depend on your area of interest (and age). You might think the GaAsFET was the […]
Mechanical vibration for electronics: the quartz crystal
It is now 100 years since Alexander Nicholson at Bell Telephone Laboratories built and patented the first crystal oscillator, and crystals are still the main source of accurate oscillations up to UHF frequencies using quartz instead of Rochelle Salt (see US patent 2212845). Quartz crystal oscillators use the piezoelectric effect. The piezoelectric effect refers to […]