Electronics Design

Useful filter design tools

Every now and then situation arises where you need to construct simple filter circuits. Usually a low pass circuit is the most often needed one. A low-pass filter is a filter that passes signals with a frequency lower than a certain cutoff frequency and attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. Low-pass filters

HAX: the Chinese firm accelerating hardware, not software (Wired UK)

Wired is writing about The Chinese firm accelerating hardware, not software at   http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2016/04/features/hax-hardware-accelerator-china In four years, HAX has invested in 100 companies after vetting what general partner Benjamin Joffe says are 1,000 startups a year. “It’s an investment company that functions as a hardware accelerator,” explains Joffe. “We help them manufacture at scale. Then

Zeptojoule Nanomagnetic Switch Measures Fundamental Limit of Computing – IEEE Spectrum

No matter how efficient we make our transistors and memory cells, they will always consume a fixed but tiny amount of energy set by the second law of thermodynamics, a new study suggests. Now the question is how close our real-world devices can get to this fundamental value. “At the end of the day, it confirms that Landauer’s theory seems to

Chemoelectronics: Nanoparticle Diodes and Devices That Work When Wet – IEEE Spectrum

Whether they’re for sensors in artificial skin that demands flexibility or for wearable electronics where the circuits must withstand our sweat, silicon-based chips aren’t always up to the task. Now, an international research team has developed a way to fabricate flexible, water-loving logic circuits and sensors without the need of semiconductors. Instead, what the researchers have done is coat gold

EUV Lithography’s Prospects Are Brightening – IEEE Spectrum

After a hard slog, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography seems to be closing in on a long-sought quarry: a light source bright enough to pattern chips cheaply and keep Moore’s Law marching along. The technology, which uses 13.5-nanometer light instead of today’s 193-nanometer light, could—at least in the short term—allow chipmakers to create finer features without

Impedance and impedance matching

What is impedance? Impedance is very technical measurement that is hard to explain without equations and some scientific jargon. When you want to understand impedance, first think about electrical resistance (represented by R), measured in Ohms. In basic battery circuit battery generates a voltage which tries to force a current around the circuit connected between