Technical Features

August 2012

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Figure 1. WBG and silicon power switch Infineon brands positioning

Ngee Hou Tan, Senior Product Marketing Manager, and Thomas Beer, Senior Director Strategic System Application Engineering CoolGaN™, Power & Sensor Systems division, Infineon Technologies

Introduction Today’s switch-mode power supplies (SMPS) are smaller, more efficient, and lower-cost than ever. The key to their performance is the power switch technologies at their heart – but how should designers choose the right material for this and find the best component to meet their needs? While silicon is the most widely-known constituent of semiconductors, a new group of wide bandgap (WBG) materials is increasingly finding its way into applications. One example is gallium nitride (

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Date:

09/01/2021

Estimating bond wire current-carrying capacity

Jitesh Shah, Principal Engineer, Integrated Device Technology

Semiconductor manufacturers use wire bonds extensively to connect a chip's I/O pads, including power, to its package's external pins. Wire bonding processes typically use gold wire because

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Date:

08/28/2012

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Figure 1: Functional blocks for amsï½s two-chip sensor interface for high-side automotive battery current sensing.

High-side automotive battery monitoring

Manfred Brandl, Product Manager, ams AG

Manufacturers are electrifying more functions within a car, reducing the mechanical load on the internal-combustion engine. These functions include water, oil, and fuel pumps; valve actuation;

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Date:

08/28/2012

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Figure 1: An example of a shielded air-core open-loop current sensor from Raztec provides a strong combination of high performance in a small package and at low cost.

Current sensing in an automotive environment

Warren Pettigrew, Chief Technology Officer, Raztec Sensors

The Automotive industry has long been the ultimate test ground for electronic components. Few terrestrial environments present such a combination of demands as does the under-hood locale

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Date:

08/28/2012

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Figure 1: Integrated gate driver with external passive components.

Improving engine stop-start system design

David Jacquinod, Application and Marketing Manager, Automotive Business Unit, International Rectifier

Automatic engine stop-start is effective in helping reduce CO2 emissions from private cars. When integrated in an otherwise conventional combustion-engine power train, engine stop-start

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Date:

08/24/2012

Non-contact driver�s ECG monitoring system

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Figure 1: Block diagram of a typical EPIC sensor

Non-contact driverï½s ECG monitoring system

Shrijit Mukherjee, Sensor Applications Engineer - Robert Breakspear, Principal Applications Engineer - Sean D Connor, Applications Engineering Manager, Plessey Semiconductor

EPIC (Electric Potential Integrated Circuit) is a very-high-impedance electric-field sensor that measures the ambient electric field with minimal disturbance. EPIC sensors are suitable for

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Date:

08/19/2012

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Figure 1: Typical HEV system block diagram

Hall effect current sensing in HEVs and EVs

Shaun Milano, Strategic Marketing Manager - Michael Doogue, Director, Linear and Current Sensor Business - Georges El Bacha, Systems Engineer, Allegro MicroSystems

Consumers are embracing environmentally friendly green cars due to the rising cost of fossil fuels and a growing concern for the health of the environment. Sales forecasts predict that green

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Date:

08/19/2012

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Figure 1: CAN network with partial-networking controllers during the transmission of a message to ECU7 (without partial-networking support)

Sleeping Conserves Energy

Fritz Burkhardt, Senior Technical Engineer, Marketing, STMicroelectronics

Minimizing energy consumption has become a major factor for any new product design in recent years. Hardly any industry can afford to disregard this issue in the definition, development,

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Date:

08/19/2012

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Figure 1: Communication line card primary ICs and power supply requirements

Flexible power management for complex PCBs

Shyam Chandra, Product Marketing Manager, Lattice Semiconductor

The number of power supplies on a board depends on the VLSI chip complement, the communication speed between them, and the number of other devices that require unique supplies. This

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Date:

08/18/2012

Designing with low-leakage tantalum and niobium oxide capacitors

Radovan Faltus, Technical Marketing, AVX Tantalum

DCL (direct current leakage) is an effect common to all capacitors. DCL values and behavior under varying electrical and environmental conditions relate to the capacitor's dielectric. The leakage

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Date:

08/13/2012

Battery-charger trends in portable power products

Trevor Barcelo, Product Line Manager Battery Management Products, Linear Technology Corporation

The first trend requires increased battery capacities. Unfortunately, users are often impatient and charge systems must recharge these increased capacities in a reasonable time, which leads to

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Date:

08/09/2012