Design Features: September 29, 1994

Cover Story
ASIC Test: it's a new ball game	Testing ASICs means more than just designing for test. Although today's sophisticated DFT tools are a big step forward from earlier ones, intelligently tackling test requires a partnership between design and test--and designers' full appreciation of what test is all about. -- Dan Strassberg, Senior Technical Editor
Design Features The hottest new technologies and the latest design techniques to help you work efficiently and effectively.
Evolving ADCs demand more from drive amplifiers	Finding an amplifier that doesn't tarnish an ADC's performance is hard enough. But now you also have to deal with single-supply voltages and the quirky swithed-capacitor input structure. --ANNE WATSON SWAGER, Technical Editor
Visual Programming Pervades Data-Acquisition Software Development	Visual programming gets your data-acquistion system up and running in hours or days, instead of the months needed to use traditional coding in Basic or C. MS Windows is the most popular environment, but its interrupt latency can threaten data integrity in high-speed and control-system applications. --Brian Kerridge, Senior Technical Editor
To build data-acquisition systems that run from 5 or 3.3V, know your ICs	Data-acquisition systems that take power from a single 3.3 or 5V supply share many design considerations with systems that run from +/-15V. Some concerns are unique to low-voltage, single-supply operation, however. To avoid problems, you need a thorough understanding of the ICs you use. --Kerry Lacanette, National Semiconductor Corp