A/D converter architectures still up to the challenge 11/10/2011 Electronics design may have gone strongly digital, but the world with which most systems deal remains unreservedly analogue. As more signal-processing functions have moved into the digital domain – partly for flexibility and increasingly because the algorithms offer better power-performance than analogue-domain processing in the latest deep submicron processes – the analogue-to-digital (A/D) converter has become more important than ever. Read Article
Capacitors continue to evolve 13/09/2011 Few passive components exist in the sheer variety of forms that the capacitor has taken. Simple in principle, the design of the capacitor involves a number of tradeoffs that make it impossible to satisfy all possible uses with just a few types of product. Read Article
Holistic power supply designs gain popularity 13/09/2011 The question of efficiency is never far away when looking at power supply design, even though it might be trumped by cost when the final choice is made. For years, however, efficiency has been about a single number: the peak efficiency at a favourable load point. Read Article
Power without responsibility: The challenges involved in energy harvesting 12/07/2011 You can find out a lot about an electric motor simply by moving it. The vibrations produced don't just result in an irritating noise; they can also provide a handy guide to the motor's health. If you attach an intelligent sensor to the motor, you can maintain a constant watch on its health at little ongoing cost. The problem is powering them, even though they are close to a large energy source in the form of mains electricity. Read Article
Power transistor designers find innovative ways to boost ratings and density 22/03/2011 In the world of low power semiconductors, everything seems so simple. Transistors divide cleanly into two families that seem to have little in common, other than the materials they use. There is the bipolar transistor, as developed by William Shockley at Bell Labs in the early 1950s; and there is the more successful metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), based on the earlier ideas of Julius Lilienfield. Read Article
Power saving with more accurate ac motor control 22/02/2011 Electric motors in the developed world are consuming an enormous amount of energy. According to a report prepared in 2002 by Steven Nadel and colleagues at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), more than half of the electricity produced in the US flows through motors. Read Article