Table Of ContentStorage relies
5 on DRAM Pg 20
JAN
Get off the sidelines
Issue 1/2012 Pg 10
www.edn.com
Signal Integrity Pg 19
Design Ideas Pg 41
Supply Chain Pg 47
The $1 million recall
VOICE OF THE ENGINEER Pg 50
THE
PROTOTYPE
COMES OF AGE
Page 30
Back-EMF method detects
stepper-motor stall
Page 22
Use Spice to analyze DRL
in an ECG front end
Page 35
RATED #1
Most Visited
Website
“Superinductors”
That’s what engineers are calling our
new ultra-low DCR power inductors
Superconductors pass current 126% prevents drastic inductance drops
higher
with virtually no resistance. DCR during current spikes.
Our new XAL/XFL inductors Unlike competitive parts,
do much the same. Their DCR is 48% these inductors don’t suffer from
38% higher
incredibly low: often half that of higher DCR thermal aging. And we give you
DCR
similar size parts. far more footprint options to
And their current handling maximize PCB density.
is equally impressive. Coilcraft’s To see what else makes our
proprietary core material has a new XAL/XFL inductors so super,
Competitors’ 4.7uH inductors
soft saturation characteristic that visit coilcraft.com/xal.
have much higher DCR per mm3
than Coilcraft’s XAL5030.
®
WWW.COILCRAFT.COM
mouser.com
AS9120A Certified Distributor Semiconductors and electronic
components for design engineers.
Authorized Distributor
Highest Standard for Quality and Control.
Mouser has high-level traceability and anti-counterfeit controls to serve aerospace, industrial, and
commercial products. Your one source for What’s Next.
■ Widest selection of newest products ■ Fastest introduction of new products
■ Millions of products online ■ 1715+ microsites and resources
■ Localized global support ■ Accurate, same-day shipping
mouser.com | The Newest Products for Your Newest Designs®
Mouser and Mouser Electronics are registered trademarks of Mouser Electronics, Inc.
contents
The prototype comes of age
30 A radical change is about to happen in the
typical development of an electronic system. 1.5.12
The hardware-development flow will no longer
be the center around which everything else revolves.
by Brian Bailey,
Contributing Technical Editor
Back-EMF method detects
stepper-motor stall
22An innovative technique takes
advantage of constant motor
parameters and overcomes the limitations
of traditional stall-detection methods
of current and duty-cycle sensing.
by David Swanson and Radek Stejskal,
STMicroelectronics
Use Spice to analyze DRL
in an ECG front end
35Understand this critical analog front
end for this ubiquitous, vital ECG
medical instrument.
by Matthew Hann,
Texas Instruments
IMAGE(S): ShUTTERSToCk
60V
V =11–14V 1A 48V AT 100 mA
IN
D e s i g ni D e a s
1 μF 2.2 μF
953
41 Use a boost regulator beyond its rated voltage
ENABLE
ADP1613ARMZ-R7 44 MQe1asure an amplifier’s THD without external filters
COMP SS
45 Use air-core-coil resistance to estimate inductance
5600 pF 10 pF FB RT
EN IN 46 Current monitor uses Hall sensor
GND SW
30.1k ▶ Find out how Dto submit your own Design Idea: http://bit.ly/DesignIdeasGuide.
1
5.1V
2.2 μF 10 nF
[w ww.edn.com] January 5, 2012 | EDN 5
3.09k 118k
EDN111215DI5228 Fig 1.eps DIANE
mouser.com
AS9120A Certified Distributor Semiconductors and electronic
components for design engineers.
Authorized Distributor
Highest Industry Award for Sustainability.*
By identifying EOL, obsolete and NRND products, Mouser delivers the newest components to advance greater energy
effi ciency and longer product life. And that’s good for the consumer and the environment.
■ Widest selection of newest products ■ Fastest introduction of new products
■ Millions of products online ■ 1715+ microsites and resources
■ Localized global support ■ Accurate, same-day shipping
mouser.com | The Newest Products for Your Newest Designs®
Mouser and Mouser Electronics are registered trademarks of Mouser Electronics, Inc. *2011 e-Legacy Award for Contribution to Sustainability.
contents Delivering
1.5.12
Real Power
pulse
Dilbert 14
13 Precision dual sensor op amp 17 Microcontrollers sip electrons;
Compact, Powerful CCM
features high voltage, low target smart-meter, monitoring,
PFC from 75 W to 4 kW+
noise, near-zero drift and medical apps
14 Modular real-time DSOs hit 17 Xilinx announces highest-
60 GHz on as many as 10 capacity FPGA
channels simultaneously
18 Quad, octal 12- and 14-bit
µPFC™
16 Offline ac/dc PFC flyback reg- ADCs target communication, VIN CONTROL VOUT
ulator eschews optocoupler; medical needs IC
simplifies, improves design
18 Resettable low-voltage elec-
16 IGBTs tackle 600V UPS, solar, tronic fuses ease hot-swap
motor, and welding applications design, provide warning PFC Control ICs
Part Number Description
Fixed 66KHz switching
frequency with brownout
departments & Columns IR1152
protection and dual OVP
protection
Fixed 22KHz switching
50 frequency with brownout
IR1153
protection and programmable
OVP protection
Programmable switching
IR1155 frequency and programmable
OVP protection
Features
• Small, easy, powerful solution
19 • Fast time to market
• Enables compliance with energy
standards (1W, Blue Angel, Energy Star)
8 EDN online: Join the conversation; Content; Engineering Community • No AC line voltage sense required
• 0.999 power factor
10 EDN.comment: Get off the sidelines
• Switching frequency of 22kHz, 66kHz or
19 Signal Integrity: Quadrature-connector layout programmable value available
• Average current mode control
20 Storage Insights: Storage relies on DRAM • Cycle by cycle peak current limit
system protection
47 Supply Chain: Thai flood will affect supply chain in 2012;
Sobering stats from the supply chain
For more information call 1.800.981.8699
48 Product Roundup: Microcontrollers or visit www.irf.com
50 Tales from the Cube: The $1 million recall
EDN® (ISSN# 0012-7515) is published semimonthly by UBM Electronics, 600 Community Drive, Manhasset, NY 11030-3825. Periodicals
postage paid at Manhasset, NY, and at additional mailing offices. SUBSCRIPTIONS—Free to qualified subscribers as defined on the subscrip-
tion card. Rates for nonqualified subscriptions, including all issues: US, $150 one year; $250 two years; $300 three years. Except for special
issues where price changes are indicated, single copies are available for $10 US and $15 foreign. For telephone inquiries regarding subscrip-
tions, call 847-559-7597. E-mail: [email protected]. CHANGE OF ADDRESS—Notices should be sent promptly to EDN, PO Box 3609,
Northbrook, IL 60065-3257. Please provide old mailing label as well as new address. Allow two months for change. NOTICE—Every precaution
is taken to ensure accuracy of content; however, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for the correctness of the information supplied THE POWER MANAGEMENT LEADER
or advertised or for any opinion expressed herein. POSTMASTER—Send address changes to EDN, PO Box 47461, Plymouth, MN 55447.
CANADA POST: Publications Mail Agreement 40612608. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to BleuChip International, PO Box 25542, Visit us at Booth 501
London, ON N6C 6B2. Copyright 2012 by UBM. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited.
Volume 57, Number 1 (Printed in USA). Disney’s Coronado Springs Conference Center
06-08 Feb 2012
[w ww.edn.com]
US APEC_11332AD_uPFC_third_EDN.indd 1 12/2/11 4:27 PM
online
JOIN THE CONVERSATION CONTENT
Comments, thoughts, and opinions shared by EDN’s community Can’t-miss content on EDN.com
In response to “Solyndra: Its technology and
why it failed,” by Don Scansen of IP Research
Group, http://bit.ly/s86np1, Robert Cox, a
design engineer in Tampa, FL, comments:
“Solyndra’s technology was good, but it was the
installation that was brilliant. In Florida, where
storm events drive the cost of panel installations
AUDIO-CONVERTER-
on commercial roofs requiring through-bolt installations, the Solyndra
SUBSYSTEM DESIGN
system would have been ideal and would have made up for module cost
CHALLENGES IN THE 21ST
in installation savings. Unfortunately, the Florida legislative structure favors
utilities and prevents the adoption of solar power ... . Unfortunately for CENTURY
Solyndra, our time did not come to save this innovative product. We hope Most audio-converter subsystems
our legislators do wake up.” perform below the potential of their
chosen data converter. Ian Dennis
In response to “The sun will screw up of Prism Sound examines why that
tomorrow,” a Tales from the Cube column by situation might be and offers tips
Clark S Robbins, http://bit.ly/u35Z6s, William on how to achieve optimum audio-
Ketel, an engineer in Michigan, comments: converter performance.
“I am attempting to imagine what sort of http://bit.ly/w29NCL
organization would assert that a nonreproducible
failure was not fixable and so could not be TOSHIBA’S ECO CHIP
repaired. The process that has often been used in such cases is usually
ENABLES LCD TV’S 0W
termed the shotgun approach and consists of replacing all of the parts
STANDBY MODE
of the system, including those pieces that ‘cannot fail.’ This method is
Perception of “greenness” can be
seldom cheap, but, in many cases, ... it is cost-effective. But I do wonder
a marketing advantage in consumer
why anyone would assume that a connector could not fail. ... Connectors
devices. Toshiba’s 32-in. flat-screen
have a great many potential failure modes, most of which are intermittent
LED-backlit LCD TV, the Regza 32BE3,
and seldom reproducible.”
achieves 0W standby power with the
Eco Chip. Meanwhile, many readers
EDN invites all of its readers to constructively and creatively comment
comment that it would be even greener
on our content. You’ll find the opportunity to do so at the bottom of each
to not waste time watching TV.
article and blog post. To review current comment threads on EDN.com,
visit http://bit.ly/EDN_Talkback. http://bit.ly/sw5WPp
ENGINEERING COMMUNITY
Opportunities to get involved and show your smarts
EDN’s VOICE OF THE ENGINEER BLOG is all about giving you, the engineer, a voice.
Open to our audience, we encourage engineers to share their perspectives on all matters
of engineering, be that what’s happening in the electronics industry, changes to design,
wwhhaatt iitt mmeeaannss ttoo bbee aann eennggiinneeeerr,, oorr aannyytthhiinngg eellssee ooff rreelleevvaannccee ttoo yyoouu aanndd yyoouurr ppeeeerrss.. EE--mmaaiill
submissions to [email protected] and tune in to see what your fellow EEs have to say.
http://bit.ly/VoiceOfTheEngineer
8 EDN | JANUARY 5, 2012 [w ww.edn.com]
“ I can’t say
BRAND DIRECTOR, EDN vICE PREsIDENT/DEsIgN DIRECTOR
Jim Dempsey Gene Fedele
1-440-333-3040;
enough about
[email protected] CREATIvE DIRECTOR
David Nicastro
DIRECTOR Of CONTENT, …the efficiency
EDN AND DEsIgNLINEs ART DIRECTOR
Patrick Mannion Giulia Fini-Gulotta
1-631-543-0445;
of speaking
[email protected] PRODuCTION
Adeline Cannone, Production Manager
ExECuTIvE EDITOR, Laura Alvino, Production Artist engineer-to-
EDN AND DEsIgNLINEs Yoshihide Hohokabe, Production Artist
Rich Pell Diane Malone, Production Artist
Consumer
1-516-474-9568; engineer…”
EDN EuropE
[email protected]
Graham Prophet
Editor, Reed Publishing
MANAgINg EDITOR [email protected]
Amy Norcross New Product Development Engineer,
Contributed technical articles Fluid Controls Manufacturer
EDN AsiA
1-781-869-7971;
Huang Hua
[email protected]
Operations General Manager
[email protected]
MANAgINg EDITOR, ONLINE Grace Wu
Suzanne Deffree Associate Publisher
Electronic Business, Distribution [email protected]
1-631-266-3433; Vivek Nanda, Executive Editor
[email protected] [email protected]
TEChNICAL EDITOR EDN ChiNA MAXIMUM
Margery Conner Huang Hua
Power Sources, Components, Operations General Manager
Green Engineering [email protected] Support
1-805-461-8242; Grace Wu
[email protected] Associate Publisher
[email protected]
TEChNICAL EDITOR Jeff Lu, Executive Editor “
Paul Rako [email protected] Mill-Max is willing to come to us, consult,
Design Ideas, Analog,
and turn projects around quickly. Other high
RF, PCB Design EDN JApAN
1-408-745-1994; Masaya Ishida, Publisher volume shops don’t offer that kind of attention
[email protected] [email protected] ”
unless your part order runs into the millions.
Makoto Nishisaka, Editor
sENIOR AssOCIATE EDITOR [email protected]
Frances T Granville, 1-781-869-7969; At Mill-Max we don’t believe that service and technical
[email protected] uBM ELECTRONICs
MANAgEMENT TEAM support should be dependent on the size of an order.
AssOCIATE EDITOR Paul Miller,
In fact, we’re never content with simply filling an
Jessica MacNeil, 1-781-869-7983; Chief Executive Officer, UBM Electronics
[email protected] and UBM Canon (Publishing) order…not if we can see ways to improve component
Brent Pearson,
COLuMNIsTs Chief Information Officer functionality or simplify the manufacturing process.
Howard Johnson, PhD, Signal Consulting David Blaza,
Bonnie Baker, Texas Instruments Senior Vice President “
…with a design we thought would require
Pallab Chatterjee, SiliconMap Karen Field,
Kevin C Craig, PhD, Marquette University Senior Vice President, Content a lot of secondary operations…they found a way
Jean-Marie Enjuto,
CONTRIBuTINg TEChNICAL EDITORs Vice President, Finance to machine it at once…resulting in a very
Dan Strassberg, Barbara Couchois, ”
functional, very low-cost part.
[email protected] Vice President, Partner Services
Stephen Taranovich, and Operations
[email protected] Felicia Hamerman, ®
Brian Bailey, Vice President, Marketing
[email protected] Amandeep Sandhu, Our connectors speak for
Robert Cravotta, Director of Audience Engagement themselves…so do our customers.
[email protected] and Analytics
To view our Design Guide, new product offerings
For a complete list of editorial contacts,
see http://ubmelectronics.com/editorial-contacts
and request a datasheet with free samples,
visit www.mill-max.com/EDN612
[w ww.edn.com]
(cid:35)(cid:76)(cid:73)(cid:69)(cid:78)(cid:84)(cid:26)(cid:230)(cid:45)(cid:73)(cid:76)(cid:76)(cid:13)(cid:45)(cid:65)(cid:88)(cid:230)(cid:115)(cid:230)(cid:42)(cid:79)(cid:66)(cid:230)(cid:46)(cid:79)(cid:14)(cid:26)(cid:230)(cid:45)(cid:45)(cid:33)(cid:56)(cid:13)(cid:17)(cid:17)(cid:20)(cid:230)(cid:115)(cid:230)(cid:51)(cid:85)(cid:66)(cid:74)(cid:69)(cid:67)(cid:84)(cid:26)(cid:230)(cid:51)(cid:85)(cid:80)(cid:80)(cid:79)(cid:82)(cid:84)
(cid:51)(cid:73)(cid:90)(cid:69)(cid:26)(cid:230)(cid:19)(cid:14)(cid:19)(cid:23)(cid:21)(cid:118)(cid:230)(cid:88)(cid:230)(cid:17)(cid:16)(cid:118)(cid:230)(cid:115)(cid:230)(cid:35)(cid:79)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:82)(cid:26)(cid:230)(cid:20)(cid:35)(cid:230)(cid:115)(cid:230)(cid:48)(cid:85)(cid:66)(cid:76)(cid:73)(cid:67)(cid:65)(cid:84)(cid:73)(cid:79)(cid:78)(cid:26)(cid:230)(cid:37)(cid:36)(cid:46)(cid:230)(cid:115)(cid:230)(cid:41)(cid:83)(cid:83)(cid:85)(cid:69)(cid:230)(cid:36)(cid:65)(cid:84)(cid:69)(cid:26)(cid:230)(cid:25)(cid:15)(cid:25)(cid:15)(cid:17)(cid:16)
(cid:52)(cid:72)(cid:73)(cid:83)(cid:230)(cid:33)(cid:68)(cid:230)(cid:48)(cid:82)(cid:69)(cid:80)(cid:65)(cid:82)(cid:69)(cid:68)(cid:230)(cid:66)(cid:89)(cid:230)(cid:51)(cid:65)(cid:78)(cid:78)(cid:65)(cid:230)(cid:45)(cid:65)(cid:84)(cid:84)(cid:83)(cid:79)(cid:78)(cid:230)(cid:45)(cid:65)(cid:67)(cid:44)(cid:69)(cid:79)(cid:68)
edn.comment
BY Suzanne Deffree, Managing eDitor, online
United States, the economic confusion
in Europe, the deaths of some of the
industry’s greatest engineers, and the
re-emergence—or continuation—of
R&D tightening, and you’ll realize that
not many in this industry will fondly
remember 2011.
It’s now time to move past those
Get off the sidelines
woes, however. No one can say for sure
that 2012 will be clear of problems. But
P
we can state that it’s no longer 2008,
rogress: It’s what engineers do. They advance, they grow,
2009, or 2010, and we’ve closed 2011.
and they move forward. To engineers, there is nothing more
It’s time to get off the sidelines and
defeating than standing still or, worse, taking a step back.
charge forward. Leave the last four years
Yet, for many engineers, 2011 was a year of maintenance or of turmoil behind and move ahead,
recovery following a layoff or budget cuts. Read the Voices away from the fear.
question-and-answer column in our last issue, and it’s easy We have no control over plenty
of things, including natural disasters,
to see why (Reference 1). For that column, Bill McClean, president of
death, or the worldwide GDP, but there
market-research company IC Insights, spoke to EDN about 2011’s less-
are things that we—or, perhaps, our
than-expected semiconductor-industry growth, estimates for 2012, and why managers—can do to get off the side-
the always-complex semiconductor market cannot be judged on just one of lines and make progress. Number 1 on
its aspects. McClean graciously gave EDN 30 minutes of his time for the that list should be hiring the best people
available. Companies don’t grow with-
interview, and, in that half-hour, he made several wise points based on his
out talented people, and they don’t grow
more than 30 years of experience tracking the IC industry.
by overworking the talented people
One point really hit already on staff. Number 2: Take some
home for me: “We’ve risks again. Invest time and resources
always said that uncer- in smart ideas that have potential, not
tainty is the worst thing just established product lines. Number
in the marketplace,” 3: Prepare to get knocked down. It’s
McClean said. “It’s going to happen. No matter how well
actually worse than you innovate and plan, you will at some
bad news. If you know point be tackled unexpectedly if you
something is going to get off the sidelines and into the game.
be bad, you can plan You can bet that the guys heading to
around it. But uncer- Indianapolis in a few weeks got hit a
tainty creates total fear lot on their way to the Super Bowl. So
and total apprehension, keep your helmet handy and proceed
and it makes people aggressively but defensively.
freeze. They don’t do We start a new year this week. As
anything; they just sit on the sidelines. Invest time and the hangover of 2011 subsides, plan your
2011 saw a tremendous amount of uncer- 2012 with progress in mind. Make it—
resources in smart
tainty, and that [feeling] showed up in not maintenance—a priority. Get off the
the semiconductor market.” ideas that have sidelines and back into the game.EDN
Look below the surface of this
potential, not just
month’s quarterly reports and cheer- RefeRence
ful toasts from execs at your company established product 1 Deffree, Suzanne, “Bill McClean:
holiday parties just a few weeks ago, Don’t broad-brush the semiconductor
lines.
and you’ll see that a conspicuous— market,” EDN, Dec 15, 2011, pg 22,
and understandable—amount of fear http://bit.ly/w0fTm8.
o
ot remains in this industry. After all, 2011 Instead, we saw tsunamis, floods, and
ockph was supposed to be the year of double- earthquakes disrupt some lives, supply Contact me at [email protected],
magE: ISt dthigei “t ngorromwatlhiz,i nthge” arfetteur ryne atros ogfa dinisso, radnerd. cthhea inhsi,g han udn peumrcphlaosyimnge nhta briatts.e Aind dt hine ocor mgom teon ht totpn: /t/hbiist .cloyl/usOm0nX.UF to post a
I
10 EDN | January 5, 2012 [w ww.edn.com]
