Portable, battery-powered operation of electronic apparatushas become increasingly desirable. Medical, remotedata acquisition, power monitoring and other applicationsare good candidates for battery operation. In some circumstances,due to space, power or reliability considerations,it is preferable to operate the circuitry from a single 1.5Vcell. Unfortunately, a 1.5V supply eliminates almost alllinear ICs as design candidates. In fact, the LM10 opamp-reference and the LT®1017/LT1018 comparators arethe only IC gain blocks fully specifi ed for 1.5V operation.Further complications are presented by the 600mV dropof silicon transistors and diodes. This limitation consumesa substantial portion of available supply range, makingcircuit design diffi cult. Additionally, any circuit designedfor 1.5V operation must function at end-of-life batteryvoltage, typically 1.3V. (See Box Section, “Componentsfor 1.5V Operation.”)
This document provides practical, common guidelines for incorporating PCI Express interconnect
layouts onto Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) ranging from 4-layer desktop baseboard designs to 10-
layer or more server baseboard designs. Guidelines and constraints in this document are intended
for use on both baseboard and add-in card PCB designs. This includes interconnects between PCI
Express devices located on the same baseboard (chip-to-chip routing) and interconnects between
a PCI Express device located “down” on the baseboard and a device located “up” on an add-in
card attached through a connector.
This document is intended to cover all major components of the physical interconnect including
design guidelines for the PCB traces, vias and AC coupling capacitors, as well as add-in card
edge-finger and connector considerations. The intent of the guidelines and examples is to help
ensure that good high-speed signal design practices are used and that the timing/jitter and
loss/attenuation budgets can also be met from end-to-end across the PCI Express interconnect.
However, while general physical guidelines and suggestions are given, they may not necessarily
guarantee adequate performance of the interconnect for all layouts and implementations.
Therefore, designers should consider modeling and simulation of the interconnect in order to
ensure compliance to all applicable specifications.
The document is composed of two main sections. The first section provides an overview of
general topology and interconnect guidelines. The second section concentrates on physical layout
constraints where bulleted items at the beginning of a topic highlight important constraints, while
the narrative that follows offers additional insight.
Abstract: Electrolytic capacitors are notorious for short lifetimes in high-temperature applications such asLED light bulbs. The careful selection of these devices with proper interpretation of their specifications isessential to ensure that they do not compromise the life of the end product. This application notediscusses this problem with electrolytic capacitors in LED light bulbs and provides an analysis that showshow it is possible to use electrolytics in such products.
Abstract: Investment in smart meters and smart grid end equipment continues to grow worldwide as countriestry to make their electric delivery systems more efficient. However, as critical as the electric deliveryinfrastructure is, it is normally not secured and thus subject to attack. This article describes the concept oflife-cycle security—the idea that embedded equipment in the smart grid must have security designed into theentire life of the product, even back to the contract manufacturer. We also talk about how life-cycle securityapplies to embedded equipment in the smart grid. Potential threats are discussed, as are potential solutionsto mitigate the risks posed by those threats.
Abstract: A resistive feedback network is often used to set the output voltage of a power supply. A mechanical potentiometer (pot)conveniently solves the problem of adjusting a power supply. For easier automatic calibration, a mechanical pot can be replaced witha digital pot. This application note presents a calibration solution that uses a digital pot, because digipots are smaller, do not movewith age or vibration, and can be recalibrated remotely. This proposed solution reduces the susceptibility of the system to thetolerance of the digital pot's end-to-end resistance, making the solution optimal fordesigners. This application note also explainssome of the equations required to calculate the resistor chain values and to use a digital pot in this way. A spreadsheet withstandard reisistor values is available for easy calculations.
Abstract: Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are used in a wide variety of applications and end markets, including digital signalprocessing, medical imaging, and high-performance computing. This application note outlines the issues related to powering FPGAs.It also discusses Maxim's solutions for powering Altera® FPGAs.
Automotive power systems are unforgiving electronicenvironments. Transients to 90V can occur when thenominal voltage range is 10V to 15V (ISO7637), along withbattery reversal in some cases. It’s fairly straightforwardto build automotive electronics around this system, butincreasingly end users want to operate portable electronics,such as GPS systems or music/video players,and to charge their Li-Ion batteries from the automotivebattery. To do so requires a compact, robust, effi cientand easy-to-design charging system
Each year Vishay releases thousands of new components that enable our customers to create new and superior end products. We recognize that offering unique component solutions helps improve the performance of next-generation devices, overcome technical barriers, and create new markets.
The design of battery-powered equipment can often bequite challenging. Since few ICs can operate directly fromthe end-of-life voltage from a 2-cell battery (about 1.8V),most systems require a DC/DCconverter. The systemdesigner often has a limited area in which to place the DC/DC converter; associated inductors and capacitors must be
