Technical Features

September 2017
QSPICE: A Mission to Get SPICE Right

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Figure 1: MOSFET channel punch-through showing outputs from previous SPICE simulators vs. QSPICE

Qorvo’s QSPICE™ simulator for analog and mixed-signal simulation provides power designers with the tools to confidently evaluate their designs. Free to use, QSPICE improves SPICE basics, supports large amounts of digital logic without performance penalties, and delivers the speed and accuracy needed for rel
Date:
11/29/2024
Resistor Specifications And How To Interpret Them

Figure 1. Power/voltage vs. resistance value

Resistors are one of the simplest electronic components. However, the specifications typically shown on datasheets can be confusing, and are often misinterpreted. In this article we discuss the different performance characteristics, the test conditions, and how to interpret the test results. We discuss potential di
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Date:
09/27/2017
Power Protection Starts with Switches
Electricity is the crux of modern society. Without it we couldn't power our factories, charge our gadgets, keep our medical equipment running or even keep food from spoiling. From lighting, communication, heating, cooling, motor control, and more, the fact of the matter is our world runs on electricity. While the breadt
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Date:
09/27/2017
Supercapacitors Come Of Age

Figure 1. Power comparison of Murata’s supercapacitors with various battery technologies

Within just a few years, devices that previously housed no electronics – let alone information processing capabilities – have become increasingly ‘smart’, joining the Internet of Things. To fully realisethe benefits of IoT, intelligent device performance levels and functionality have increased exponentially. Increased functiona
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Date:
09/27/2017
Intelligent Battery Monitoring

Figure 1. Typical charge characteristics of Li-ion (Source: www.batteryuniversity.com)

In our electrified world, we have become accustomed to continuity. If an airline scheduling system goes down due to a power outage or our electric vehicle runs out of charge unexpectedly, we’re outraged. Battery systems providing backup and motive power should have guaranteed availability; but how is this en
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Date:
09/26/2017
Functionality Convergence in IIoT

Figure 1: Example of Arm’s TrustZone technology demonstrating compartmentalization.

Today’s Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is rapidly changing how connected devices are enabled in modern heterogeneous multicore system-on-chip (SoC) architectures. These multicore environments reduce operational and maintenance costs by converging what were previously multiple discrete functions on a se
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Date:
09/26/2017
Changing Demands for the Power Industry

Figure 1. Medical power supply OFM225 used as pilot case for C2C simulation

Due to its very nature, the power supply industry has been on a never-ending quest searching for new technologies to improve energy efficiency, safety, and miniaturization.  Step by step - sometimes small ones, sometimes big – the industry has created power architectures that reduce energy consumption an
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Date:
09/26/2017
Implementing Tapped Buck Topology

Figure 1. Tapped Buck Schematic

When designing a medium power (10 W – 20 W), non-isolated, AC-DC power supply the choice is typically between a conventional buck topology and a more complex, flyback transformer based circuit. The buck converter design, although simple and easy to design with, has some drawbacks. Buck converters use a sim
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Date:
09/26/2017
High Power Density Systems Demand High Current Converters

Figure 1. LTC7150S Typical Application Schematic(7150 TA01a)

The expanding market for high current, low voltage digital ICs reached $9.2B in 2016 [source: Intense Research Co]. This group of digital ICs includes microcontrollers and microprocessors (µC & µP), programmable logic devices (PLDs), digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuit (A
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Date:
09/25/2017
Current datacenters typically have a 12V backplane and distribution on board and need to convert the voltage down to around 1V, which is usually achieved with a synchronous buck regulator, single- or multi-phase. The racks in these datacenters normally max out at a power rating of 20kW. There is a need in the in
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Date:
09/25/2017
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