Tags
A tag is a keyword or label that categorizes your question with other, similar questions. Using the right tags makes it easier for others to find and answer your question.
low-power× 587
designed to use less power than their common counterparts. This is often a requirement because of limited available power, as in battery operated devices, or i…
microchip× 582
an IC manufacturer, best known for its extensive range of PIC microcontrollers, but also memory and analog function ICs. The term "microchip" is a legacy term for integrated ci…
grounding× 582
Problems related to the connection of circuits to ground or earth references. Can affect safety, accuracy, reliability and interfacing.
control-system× 579
A system that may be electronic circuits or even software that uses control theory (principally differential equations) to control an output by monitoring various aspects of the system under control a…
charger× 575
A device which controls the voltage and current being delivered to a capacitor or battery.
surface-mount× 571
Surface-Mount Technology (SMT) refers to the way components are mounted on a PCB: SMDs (Surface-Mounted Devices) have pins or contacts which lay on top of the PCB's pads, without the need for holes in…
h-bridge× 566
A circuit which allows power to be applied to a load in either direction. Often used for reversible motor control.
brushless-dc-motor× 564
a DC motor type that uses an electronic inverter/switching circuit to energize the motor coils in a sequence (based on the detected rotor position) in order to rotate…
multiplexer× 560
A multiplexer selects one of two (or more) inputs based on a control input. It then outputs the selected input.
cmos× 558
"Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor" is a process which implements a combination of PMOS and NMOS transistors. Most current digital logic is implemented in CMOS. Its cost-effectiveness due to be…
xilinx× 555
A popular manufacturer of FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) and CPLDs (Complex Programmable Logic Devices).
automotive× 547
An application field of electronics that requires high reliability and fail-safe systems. Application can vary widely in temperature ranges and a wide voltage range, typically 12v (or 24v) while off a…
multimeter× 544
Single universal measurement device that can be used to measure voltage [V] and current [A] in both AC and DC, as well as resistance [Ω]. Often many other ranges are available like frequency [Hz], dut…
programming× 543
Questions about programming parts (FPGAs, Flash, etc.) Many software programming questions should be asked instead on Stack Overflow.
current-source× 538
An electronic component that sources current - if it sinks current it is called a current sink but both devices (sinks and sources) can be called sources. An IDEAL current source will supply current …
rectifier× 538
part of AC to DC conversion. A half-wave rectifier keeps only the positive part of the signal. A full-wave rectifier also keeps the negative part, but flips it to make it positive too.
potentiometer× 537
mechanically-adjustable special-type variable resistor with 3 legs and it is used as a potential-divider. (It is not a meter at-all, but got the name from its historical ancestor which was a meter.)
generator× 523
a device that generates electricity from mechanical energy via different energy sources such as heat or kinetic energy of water.
infrared× 523
electromagnetic radiation with longer wavelengths than those of visible light at 0.74 micrometres (µm) to 300 µm, which is extends the nominal red edge of the visible spectrum.
protection× 516
Ancillary circuitry added to a design that provides protection of the main circuitry to enable the main circuits continuing functioning. In some cases the protection circuitry is sacrificial, being d…
gpio× 490
an acronym for general purpose input/output. The term is typically applied to a pin on a microcontroller (or other device) that may be changed between an input and output under software contro…
microprocessor× 488
an integrated circuit that elaborates information in the form of digital signals. Not to be confused with a microcontroller, which embeds many additional devices to control embed…
differential× 481
Differential refers to any kind of signaling where the signal information is carried by two or more paths and both are required to properly reconstruct the signal. For example, USB D+ and D-
comparator× 472
A comparator compares two voltages or currents and switches an output to indicate which is larger.
npn× 469
A type of bipolar transistor comprised of n-type semiconductor in contact with p-type semiconductor which in turn is in contact with a n-type semiconductor -> thus NPN. The transistor has three termi…
converter× 469
A circuit that converts a signal from one form to another. Analog to digital, Digital to analog, Voltage to current, Current to voltage etc. The key to understanding is the transformational properti…
