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Table of Contents

February 3, 1997

Design Features

  • For want of circuit-protection devices...
    A variety of devices protects sensitive circuits against overvoltage or overcurrent conditions, thereby preventing overheating, avalanche breakdown, and device burnouts. —Bill Travis, Senior Technical Editor
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  • Good things come in small (IC) packages
    Analog functions in tiny IC packages give you pc-board-layout flexibility, but consider design guidelines, thermal management, and manufacturing issues as you "go small." —Bill Schweber, Technical Editor
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  • "Tanktwanger" circuit puts a new spin on clock synthesis
    An unusual circuit, the "tanktwanger," provides some clock-generating and -adjusting advantages over conventional clock-synthesis methods. You can adapt the main circuit for numerous applications, but you must take care when constructing this VHF design. —Glen Chenier, Fitel Photomatrix
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  • High-speed DRAMs keep pace withhigh-speed systems
    To get high performance from high-speed systems, you need high-performance memories. Carefully analyze the EDO, SDRAM, and RDRAM system-timing parameters to see which memory type delivers the performance that your system needs.—Craig Hampel, Rambus Inc
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  • VHDL and Verilog fundamentals
    To successfully design chips with Verilog or VHDL, you need to understand the basics of these hardware-description languages. —Douglas J Smith, VeriBest
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  • Digital-simulation logic-value systems
    In addition to representing logical values, simulators need to represent the strengths of those values. The problem lies in how a simulator can accomplish this task. —Clive "Max" Maxfield, Intergraph Electronics
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  • Universal Serial Bus Q & A
    My recent hands-on project about designing with USB generated a big response, including lots of questions, from EDN's readers. Here's a compilation of the best questions, along with my responses.—Richard A Quinnell, Technical Editor
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    Leading Edge

  • Performance underscores Windows 95-based logic analyzer
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  • 16-bit DAC squeezes into eight-pin SOIC
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  • Hardware-emulation family speeds high-density chip verification
  • 8-bit, 200M-sample/sec A/D converter avoids being flashy
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  • RISC chips provide secure encryption and decryption
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  • Formal verification moves up in the world
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  • Backplanes for VME64 extensions appear
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  • SCSI adapter operates with PC and Mac hosts
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  • Chip bridges USB to parallel port
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  • Fast Ethernet ICs slash hub/switch costs
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  • Integrated supervisory IC cuts design time, board space
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  • PCI-to-CardBus controller nears 132-Mbyte/sec PCI limit
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  • Genlock IC produces waveforms needed to digitize video
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  • Chip BIST gets faster
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  • Tiny-op-amp family offers 80- to 350-MHz bandwidths

    • Design Ideas

  • Memory supply includes battery backup
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  • Battery-backup converter uses one NiCd cell
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  • Boost controller drives buck converter
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  • Simple circuit charges lead-acid batteries
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  • Cascode circuit lessens DAC degradation
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  • Saturable bead improves reverse recovery
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  • EPLD configures wait-state generator
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    Columnist

  • There's no substitute for hands on—by Jack Ganssle, Contributing Editor
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  • I'll be back—by David Brubaker, Contributing Editor
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    Products

    Departments

  • Editorial
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  • Signals & Noise
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    Copyright © 1997 EDN Magazine. EDN is a registered trademark of Reed Properties Inc, used under license.