Gate driver duo optimizes GaN FET design
A two-chip set from Allegro delivers isolated gate drive for e-mode GaN FETs in multiple applications and topologies. Comprising the AHV85000 and AHV85040, the pair of ICs is the third product in the company’s high-voltage Power-Thru portfolio,…
SiC MOSFETs reside in 7-pin D2Pak
Nexperia now offers 1200-V SiC MOSFETs in 7-pin D2Pak (TO-263-7) plastic packages with on-resistance values of 30 mΩ, 40 mΩ, 60 mΩ, and 80 mΩ. With the release of the NSF0xx120D7A0 series of SiC MOSFETs, the company is addressing the…
Dual-channel gate drivers fit IGBT modules
Scale-iFlex XLT plug-and-play dual-channel gate drivers from Power Integrations operate IGBT modules with blocking voltages of up to 2.3 kV. These ready-to-use drivers work with LV100 (Mitsubishi), XHP 2 (Infineon), and equivalent IGBT modules…
Demo board provides dual-motor control
ST’s demonstration board controls two three-phase brushless motors using an onboard STSPIN32G4 controller with an embedded MCU. The controller’s integrated MCU is based on a 32-bit Arm Cortex-M4 core, which delivers the processing power…
Analog TV transmitter—analog problem
In the late 1980s the television station I worked at was still using an early 1970s transmitter, an RCA TT-50FH (50 kW, Series F, High-band VHF).
The transmitter was made with three cabinets: two 25 kW amplifiers, A and B, on the left and right,…
Power Tips #129: Driving high voltage silicon FETs in 1000-V flybacks
The 800 V automotive systems enable higher performance electric vehicles capable of driving ranges longer than 400 miles on a single charge and charging times as fast as 20 minutes. 800 V batteries rarely operate at exactly 800 V and can go…
Unleashing the potential of industrial and commercial IoT
We’re in the fourth industrial revolution, commonly referred to as Industry 4.0, where advanced technologies are reshaping the landscape of manufacturing and business. The idea of machines communicating with each other, robots milling around,…
Looking inside a laser measurer
Tape measures are right up there with uncooperative-coiling (and -uncoiling) extension cords and garden hoses on the list of “things guaranteed to raise my blood pressure”. They don’t work reliably (thanks to gravity) beyond my arm span…
Why verification matters in network-on-chip (NoC) design
In the rapidly evolving semiconductor industry, keeping pace with Moore’s Law presents opportunities and challenges, particularly in system-on-chip (SoC) designs. Notably, the number of transistors in microprocessors soared to an unprecedented…
Ethernet adapter chips aim to bolster AI data center networking
At a time when scalable high-bandwidth and low-latency connectivity is becoming critical for artificial intelligence (AI) clusters, the new 400G PCIe Gen 5.0 Ethernet adapter chips aim to resolve connectivity bottlenecks in AI data centers.
Broadcom…
Relay and solenoid driver circuit doubles supply voltage to conserve sustaining power
A generally accepted fact about relays and solenoids is that after they’re driven into the actuated state, only half as much coil voltage and therefore only one fourth as much coil power, are required to reliably sustain it. Consequently,…
Navigating energy efficiency in O-RAN architectures
Open radio access network (O-RAN) technology is driving the mobile communication industry toward an open, virtualized, and disaggregated architecture. O-RAN breaks traditional hardware-centric RANs into building blocks—radios, hardware, and…
