Battery and IC Products Enable Portable Consumer-Electronic Devices
February 26, 2008 11:21 am | by Kevin Tretter, Senior Product Marketing Engineer, Analog & Interface Products Division, Microchip Technology Inc | Articles | CommentsIn the world of portable consumer-electronic devices, manufacturers are faced with a challenging prospect — creating physically smaller devices that have enhanced performance while maintaining or extending operating battery life. These requirements have rippled throughout the entire electronics industry, forcing battery and Integrated Circuit (IC) manufacturers to constantly push the boundaries of technology.
HCMOS Oscillator Offers High Frequency Stability and Low Aging Rate
February 26, 2008 10:46 am | Product Releases | CommentsThe Connor-Winfield XO125 is a 5V Voltage Controlled Oven Compensated Controlled Crystal Oscillator (VCOCXO) with an HCMOS output. It is designed for Stratum 3E applications requiring a low aging rate and tight frequency stability. The device is housed in the standard CO8 EURO package with standard frequencies of 10 MHz and 12.8 MHz available.
Terminal Blocks Allow for the Interfacing off Internal and External Wiring
February 26, 2008 9:52 am | Product Releases | CommentsBlockMaster Electronics announced the expansion of their high power line of thru-panel terminal blocks with the addition of the Series OTB-388 with a terminal pitch of 21 mm and Series OTB-488 at a 27 mm terminal pitch. Both of these carry a current capacity rating of 100A at 600V. The two series are designed for motor control, gen set, electric heating
Select the Optimal Power Management IC
February 26, 2008 6:25 am | by Bob Lyle, Intersil Corp. | Articles | CommentsManaging power is a critical requirement for all electronic equipment from notebooks to PDAs to storage peripherals. Power management ICs can optimize power usage to match the constantly changing demands of whatever task the device is carrying out. There are several important criteria to consider when selecting the best IC for an application.
Miniature Pushbutton Switches Feature Gold Plated Contacts for Dry Circuit Applications
February 26, 2008 5:17 am | Product Releases | CommentsCIT Relay & Switch JH Series is a momentary input switch offered with no LED, one LED or two LEDs. Cap color options include white, black, red, yellow, green, orange, blue, light gray and transparent. Tested electrical life of the series is 500,000 cycles with electrical rating of 50 mA at 25V DC. Contact resistance is <10 milliohm initial. The dielectric strength is 1000 Vrms minimum with insulation resistance of >100 milliohm minimum.
Supercapacitors Permit Low Temperature Operation and Reduce EMI
February 26, 2008 4:52 am | Product Releases | CommentsTecate Industries announced the CAP-XX’s ultra-thin G Series of general-purpose supercapacitors. Comprised of the GS and GW Series of single-cell and dual-cell supercapacitors, the RoHS-compliant parts boast low impedance and a very low profile. The devices offer long-life performance at up to 2.3V in the single-cell versions and 4.5V in dual-cell configurations, with two cells connected in series.
Small Logic Analyzers Pack in the Bits
February 25, 2008 10:09 am | by Jon Titus, Senior Technical Editor | Articles | CommentsSmall logic analyzers put many digital channels, trigger options and I/O capabilities in an instrument that engineers can consider as their own. These small analyzers connect through a USB port to a host PC that controls functions and displays, and saves information.
Instruments Scope Out Bus Details
February 25, 2008 9:48 am | by Jon Titus, Senior Technical Editor | Articles | CommentsAlthough serial ports may seem like antiques, for many years ahead, equipment will continue to rely on serial communications via RS-485, I2C, SPI, SATA and 10-Gigabit Ethernet links, for example. But testing and troubleshooting communications on these and other serial buses can get ugly. No one wants to sit in front of a scope to try to make sense of endless streams of 1s and 0s.
Precision Amplifiers with Low Voltage Offset Drift Over Temperature
February 25, 2008 9:01 am | Product Releases | CommentsNational Semiconductor Corp. introduced a family of micropower precision amplifiers that provide guaranteed maximum offset voltage drift over temperature (TCVOS) as low as ±0.4 microvolts per degree Celsius (uV/°C). The LMP2231 single, LMP2232 dual and LMP2234 quad micropower op amps feature CMOS inputs, 1.6V to 5.5V operation, 10 uA of supply current per channel, low offset voltage of 150 uV and a wide temperature range of -40°C to 125°C.
MCUs Operate Down To 0.9V Enable Portables to Derive Power from a Single-cell Battery
February 25, 2008 8:48 am | Product Releases | CommentsSilicon Laboratories introduced microcontrollers (MCUs) capable of operating down to 0.9V, enabling portable devices to derive power from a single-cell battery. The C8051F9xx family’s 8-bit architecture with an integrated high-efficiency DC/DC boost converter, which can supply up to 65 mW of power for both internal MCU use and to drive other components, creates a
Digital Power Controllers Integrate Active, Accurate Current Sharing
February 25, 2008 7:56 am | Product Releases | CommentsZilker Labs introduced adaptive DC DC power controllers for maximizing efficiency in power constrained applications. The ZL2006 and ZL2004 –additions to the company’s Digital DC product family – include new proprietary algorithms that dynamically optimize efficiency as operating conditions change, with no
Power Modules Provide Ultra-high Levels of Isolation
February 22, 2008 4:42 am | Product Releases | CommentsMinmax's MIHW3000 Series power modules are designed to provide ultra-high levels of isolation 5600V DC in a low profile 24-pin DIP package. Operating input voltage ranges of 9V DC to18V DC, 18V DC to 36V DC and 36V DC to 75V DC which provide precisely regulated output voltages of 5V, 12V, ±12V and ±15V DC. The -40°C to +55°C operating temperature range makes it suitable for
Dual-Channel, Sink/Source Current DAC for Power-Supply Adjustments
February 21, 2008 5:58 am | Product Releases | CommentsMaxim Integrated Products introduced its DS4412 dual-channel, sink/source current DAC. This I2C-controlled, 4-bit current DAC features two output channels that are explicitly designed for power-supply margin testing and adjustment. Each output channel provides control of a DC/DC power supply by sinking or sourcing current directly into the power supply's feedback node.
Board Mounted Point-of-Load DC/DC Converters is Adjustable from 0.8V to 5.5V Output
February 21, 2008 5:39 am | Product Releases | CommentsDelta Electronics, Inc. introduced the DNQ Family of Point-of-Load (POL), non-isolated converters into their Delphi Series of Board Mounted DC/DC power converters. The device operates from a 10V to 14V input range, provides 25A of single channel output current in a vertically mounted, through-hole or horizontally surface mounted package. It features a programmable output voltage via external resistors and is adjustable from a 0.8V to 5.5V output through this external resistor.
Six-U cPCI GBit Ethernet Switch In Three Rugged Levels
February 21, 2008 5:35 am | Product Releases | CommentsKontron’s 6U CompactPCI Gbit Ethernet switch for high-end communications is available in three rugged levels. The Kontron CP6923 PICMG 2.16 compliant 6U CompactPCI managed Ethernet switch with 24 link ports and two 10GbE XFP uplink connections comes in three rugged levels defined as R1, R2 and R3. The R2 and R3 versions are available with


