Technical Features

March 2024

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

QSPICE: A Mission to Get SPICE Right

Siddharth Mohan, design engineer, Qorvo

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

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Date:

11/29/2024

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Figure 1: A typical risk management process according to ISO 14971

Design Considerations for Medical Power Supplies

Hafiz Khalid, Product Marketing Director, XP Power

Medical equipment design is highly regulated, with safety being the main concern. However, the standards must cover a very wide range of equipment types and use environments, from battery-powered monitors to scanners consuming multiple kW and from operating theatres to analysis labs and ‘point of care’ se

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Date:

03/01/2024

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Figure 1. Simplified buck converter power stage

Analysis of SMPS and Rectification: Inductor Violations

Abe Ibraheim, Kenneth Armijo, and Piyu Dhaker, Analog Devices

Every SMPS works by storing energy in an inductor and utilizing pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques to obtain the desired output. The guiding principle of these converters is the volt second balance law, which dictates that when operating in a steady state, over one period the average current of an inductor mu

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Date:

03/01/2024

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Figure 1: Microchip’s SiC portfolio

SiC Solutions Extend the Range of High-Power Applications

Perry Schugart, Microchip Technology

The demand for power devices is constantly increasing, driven by the impulse coming from sectors with major innovation such as e-mobility, renewable energy, and data centers. Power applications today have continuously more stringent requirements, linked above all to achieving higher efficiency (with consequent re

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Date:

03/01/2024

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Figure 1: A typical distributed power architecture using an intermediate bus and point of load converters, here the load is a Xilinx SoC device

Optimising Distributed Power Architectures with Programmable PoL Converter Current Limits

Jean-Loup Guédon - Senior Design Engineer at GAIA Converter

Even while accounting for DC power distribution, the disparity between input and output voltages gets larger, with supply rails often subject to wide variations, while the outputs, sometimes down to around 1V, must be ever-more accurate and disturbance-free. Power conversion in a single stage with isolation

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Date:

03/01/2024

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Figure 1. Visualization of a FIB-SEM tomography datasets obtained from a SiC MOSFET samples. The top image shows the full volume, while the bottom one presents the same dataset with a cuboid of approximately one third of the volume cut away....

Maximizing Yield and Performance of Power Devices by Deep Learning

Heiko Stegmann, Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH, Oberkochen, Germany

Silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs have become predominantly used in power semiconductors, particularly for automotive applications. To support process development, improve manufacturing yield, and reduce sub-surface failures in finished products, engineers must understand the structure, dopant and junction profiles, an

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Date:

03/01/2024

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Figure 1: Principle of BLDC- and PMSM-motor with a B6 Bridge

Advanced Simulation Optimizes Embedded Motor Design

Frank Bussinger, MOTEON

In the past, the number of automotive applications driven by electrical motors increased from year to year. In the beginning, there were only a few applications such as brushed DC-motors, fuel pumps, windshield wipers, ABS, or window lifters, that were simply controlled by switches or relays. For these electrically dr

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Date:

03/01/2024

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Figure 1: E-Call System

Using an Automotive-Grade, Class-D Audio Amplifier to Improve a Vehicle's E-Call System

Cici Chen, Monolithic Power Systems

A recent study found that there was a causal relationship between how quickly someone is able to receive medical care and their chances of survival. To further lower mortality rates, intelligent transportation has led to the invention of the emergency call, also called an e-call, function. E-call systems

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Date:

03/01/2024

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Figure 1. Traditional QR flyback converter with protective RCD clamp

ACF in a GaN World

Ahsan Zaman, Director of AC/DC Product Marketing, Silanna Semiconductor

Flyback topologies are often chosen for AC/DC conversion in low- to medium-power applications such as USB adapters and battery chargers. Among their inherent strengths, the transformer-based design provides galvanic isolation and facilitates a wide input voltage range. Moreover, the simplicity of the topology and

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Date:

03/01/2024