Dear Sir/Madam

It doesn´t exist the same high degree in automation in designing complex analogue circuits - compared with digital Designs – but nevertheless there are interesting solutions which you´ll find in this newsletter. Enjoy it!

Wolfgang Patelay
Technical Editor, EPN

At Glance, in this issue

1. Products News 2. Articles 3. Design Tips 4. Book of the Month

1| Product News

RF/Analogue ICs Simulation (Ansoft)
Ansoft Designer v3 offers expanded Solver on Demand capability and new design-verification technology to speed the design process of RF systems and of RF and analogue ICs while increasing the accuracy of signal-integrity studies. The tool now includes HFSS, Ansoft's 3D full-wave electromagnetic-field simulation software, in the company's Designer's Solver on Demand capability, giving engineers maximum flexibility in characterising RF components.
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Single-Chip TV-Tuner IC (Infineon)
The TUA6039 integrates all RF (Radio Frequency) and IF (Intermediate Frequency) functions on a single chip, leading the evolution of smaller and more cost-effective digital-TV-tuner ICs without compromise to performance. The chip has only half the footprint area of the conventional RF + IF tuner solution and provides a reliable solution for tuner, set-top-box and TV manufacturers
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Advanced POL Chipset (International Rectifier)
The IR3623 is a high-performance dual synchronous buck PWM control IC. Designed to be used with iP2003A iPOWIR integrated driver-MOSFET power building blocks, the chipset reduces component count and footprint in non-isolated, DC/DC buck converters delivering up to 80A in embedded networking and communications systems, POL regulator modules and high-density blade servers.
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Display Cards (Trident Microsystems)
Trident Microsystems has extended its range of LCD interface solutions by introducing a series of OEM display controllers, providing versatile connection between analogue video sources and flat-panel displays. The CRTtoLCD-6 and CRTtoLCD-7 interface boards are the latest fruit of the company's collaboration with German manufacturer and specialists in industrial flat-panel solutions Kontron. Click here

Sponsor NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS



Here’s a Short-Circuit You’ll Actually Like
Detect and correct circuit design flaws with Multisim interactive simulation.  Learn about the latest capture, simulation and layout technology from Electronics Workbench today by viewing our new online feature demos including an introduction to Multisim, advanced analyses and more.
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Language Support for Analogue Designers
Most people regard, with good reason, analogue design as being difficult to automate, and believe that productivity improvements are hard to come by. Because there are no widely accepted high-level tools such as synthesis software that can take arbitrary descriptions of analogue functions and convert them into circuits, the image of analogue design is one of hand-drawn designs with few benefits from automation. Paul Double from EDA Solutions describes in his article in EPN a solution how to automate the analogue design.
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Selecting and Designing with Aluminium Capacitors
Capacitors are amongst the main components in both the input and output of switched mode power supplies. Theo van de Steeg from Vishay Intertechnology describes in his article in EPN how you can use them as energy buffers when power demands change.
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Sponsor TEXAS INSTRUMENTS

0.5C Digital Out Temperature Sensor
The TMP275 is a 0.5degC accurate, digital out temperature sensor with two-wire, serial output and capable of reading temps with a resolution of 0.0625degC. It is SMBus-compatible and allows up to eight devices on one bus. Supply range is 2.7V to 5.5V.
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Gain-of-three amplifier requires no external resistors
This Desig Idea by Marián Stofka from the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia, explains how you can use Analog Devices' ADA4862-3 for wideband amplification and minimized parts count.
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Find resistor values for arbitrary programmable-amplifier gains
When available fixed-gain values match design requirements, a PGA (programmable-gain-amplifier) IC offers a drop-in choice, but what does a designer do when a suitable PGA is unavailable? Before the PGA's advent, a circuit designer who needed selectable, fixed amounts of gain chose a suitable operational amplifier and designed a switched-resistor gain-setting network. This Design Idea by Sid Levingston discusses two methods of designing the desired resistive network.
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RF Circuit Design, by Christopher Bowick
This book provides complete design procedures for multiple-pole Butterworth, Chebyshev, and Bessel filters. It also covers capacitors, inductors, and other components with their behavior at RF frequencies discussed in detail. Therefore it is an essential reading for experts in the field of RF circuit design and engineers needing a good reference.
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