Cambridge GaN Devices (CGN) has published a video explaining what is different about its novel 650V GaN transistors, which are actually GaN ICs that include circuits as well as the main power switch. The devices do not include a gate driver, but they do include a gate drive modifier circuit which allows any gate driver intended to drive a silicon ...
I just bought a sold-as-seen bench power supply, which has got a bit of a fault, which is turning into a saga. – a particularly unwanted saga, as the PSU was bought to help fix something else. Adjusting the current limit sometimes causes the PSU to oscillate (~105kHz). Attaching the (isolated) scope to the back of the current limit setting ...
A company called Heata is offering to heat your hot water cylinder by attaching a server to it, which will process computation loads from who-knows-where, arriving by a dedicated fibre or 4G/5G wireless. The deal for the hot water tank owner, is that they get free hot water – up to 4.8kWh/day, said the company, adding that it is contractually ...
Already aware of NGK’s interesting EnerCera solid-state lithium-ion cells, I recently came across TDK’s CeraCharge surface-mount solid state rechargeable battery, which appeared in 2020. Intended for load-levelling in energy harvesting applications and backing up real-time clocks, there is one TDK CeraCharge part, the 1812 packaged (4.4 x 3 x 1.1mm) BCT1812M101AG, which operates across 0 to 1.6V (1.5V nominal) and ...
STMicroelectronics has a nice backgrounder on how to drive enhancement-mode GaN power hemts. It starts with a section on the various types of e-mode GaN power hemt and then shifts to describing the necessities and pit-falls of gate driving in gradually increasing, but always readable, detail. ‘E-mode GaN technology: tips for best driving‘ is ST’s AN5583 application note.
Having spent considerable time with my nose in the Raspberry Pi RP2040 MCU data sheet recently, I feel the need to say how beautifully it is written – not only technically, but also as a work of art. The English is almost lyrical, with hardly a spare word anywhere, while still covering all the necessary registers and clocks and whatever. ...
I am not sure why pulse generator buffers are so fascinating at the moment. It could be that the workshop’s only crystal-backed generator that can run from 0% to 100% duty cycle is still broken, or it could be that it is simply an enjoyable bite-sized problem to ponder at idle moments. Anyway, here is the idea that occurred instead ...
I came across a Massachusetts company, THAT Corporation, founded in 1989, that has had its own 4inch foundry in Milpitas California for more than 20 years, making audio semiconductors using a dielectric isolation process. It says: “This four-inch wafer fab gives THAT Corporation the only IC production facility focused primarily on high-performance audio components. While this production fab facility primarily ...
One of the few remaining reasons to use Windows on computers here has just gone, as my ageing PicoScope 3205 (not to be confused with the current 3205D) is happily ticking away on a Linux Mint PC as I type. PicoScopes are display-less PC scopes from UK-based Pico Technology. They have real scope performance (and real scope prices to go ...
After a time with a multimeter and scope, the othewise-undocumented Cronos board for home-build cnc machines has revealed some of its secrets. Overall, it seems like a proper grown-up design with a few quirks. Engineer in Wonderland cnc-related blogs are indexed here Power rails are well thought out (see below) and seem well up to the job, and isolation (including ...
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