1. Analog Dialogue Technical Journal
  2. RAQs
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Rarely Asked Questions

Issue 196, December 2021

How to Easily Select the Right Frequency Generation Component

Anton Patyuchenko

Question: What is the right frequency generation component for my application?

VIEW THE ANSWER
RAQ Issue: 195
Issue 195, November 2021

A Guide for Choosing the Right RF Amplifier for Your Application

Anton Patyuchenko

Question: How do I choose the right RF amplifier and what are their differences?

VIEW THE ANSWER
Issue 194, October 2021

A New, Better Way to Optimize a Signal Chain with a Continuous-Time Sigma-Delta Converter

Benjamin Reiss

Question: Why should I consider using CTSD ADCs to improve my signal chain design?

VIEW THE ANSWER
  • raq-issue-193-anim

    Three Options to Optimize the Control Loop of Power Converters

    Issue 193, September 2021
  • RAQ Issue: 192

    How to Use LTspice Simulations to Account for the Effect of Voltage Dependence

    Issue 192, August 2021
  • raq-issue-191-anim

    Point-of-Load DC-to-DC Converters Solve Voltage Accuracy, Efficiency, and Latency Issues

    Issue 191, July 2021
  • RAQ Issue 190

    Adjustable, High Voltage Supply Combines Precision and Repeatability for Sensor Bias Applications

    Issue 190, June 2021
  • RAQ 189

    Isolation for SAR ADCs

    Issue 189, May 2021
  • RAQ Issue: 188

    Mitigation Strategies for Tricky FM Band Conducted EMI

    Issue 188, April 2021
  • RAQ Issue: 187

    How to Choose the Right Protection for Your Circuit

    Issue 187, March 2021
  • RAQ Issue: 186

    Adding a Flexible Current Limit

    Issue 186, February 2021
  • RAQ Issue: 185

    The Perilous Path from the Transducer to the ADC: What’s an Engineer to Do?

    Issue 185, January 2021
  • RAQ Issue: 184

    How a 16-Bit Output Module with Voltage and Current Outputs Can Be Controlled with Full Isolation from the Microcontroller

    Issue 184, December 2020
  • RAQ Issue: 183

    Voltage Conversion in Four Quadrants

    Issue 183, November 2020
  • RAQ Issue: 182

    Keeping EMI from LED Drivers Under Control

    Issue 182, October 2020
  • RAQ Issue: 181

    Generating Very Low Voltages with Standard Regulators

    Issue 181, September 2020
  • RAQ: Issue 180

    Design of an Adjustable Voltage Output Using a Push-Button Digital Potentiometer

    Issue 180, August 2020
  • RAQ Issue: 179

    Energy Storage Using Supercapacitors: How Big Is Big Enough?

    Issue 179, July 2020
  • RAQ Issue: 178

    Wide Voltage Range Automotive Circuit Protector

    Issue 178, June 2020
  • RAQ Issue: 177

    RMS Power vs. Average Power

    Issue 177, May 2020
  • RAQ Issue: 176

    Ultralow Noise, 48 V, Phantom Microphone Power Supply Using a Tiny DC-to-DC Boost Converter

    Issue 176, April 2020
  • RAQ Issue: 175

    LTspice Audio WAV Files: Using Stereo and Encrypting Voice Messages

    Issue 175, March 2020
  • RAQ Issue: 174

    Current Noise in FET Input Amps

    Issue 174, February 2020
  • RAQ Issue: 173

    On Building Physically Accurate Analog Switch Macromodels

    Issue 173, January 2020
  • RAQ Issue: 172

    Manipulating MCU SPI Interface to Access a Nonstandard SPI ADC

    Issue 172, December 2019
  • RAQ Issue: 171

    “If It Isn’t Broken, Don’t Fix It.” Adjusting the Gain of a Fixed-Gain Difference Amplifier

    Issue 171, November 2019
  • RAQ Issue: 170

    Inductor Current Measurement in Switched Power Supplies

    Issue 170, October 2019
  • RAQ Issue: 169

    A Simple Way to Measure Temperature Using One GPIO Digital Interface

    Issue 169, September 2019
  • RAQ Issue: 168

    Bootstrapping a Low Voltage Op Amp to Operate with High Voltage Signals and Supplies

    Issue 168, August 2019
  • RAQ Issue: 167

    When Smaller Is Better

    Issue 167, July 2019
  • RAQ Issue: 166

    How to Convert Light Intensity Into an Electrical Quantity

    Issue 166, June 2019
  • RAQ Issue: 165

    Discrete Difference Amplifier vs. an Integrated Solution

    Issue 165, May 2019
  • RAQ Issue: 164

    Guidelines for Placing the Inductor on a Switch Mode Power Supply Printed Circuit Board

    Issue 164, April 2019
  • RAQ Issue: 163

    SAR Converter with PGA Achieves Dynamic Range of 125 dB

    Issue 163, March 2019
  • RAQ Issue: 162

    Enablement of Batteryless Applications with Wireless Power

    Issue 162, February 2019
  • RAQ Issue: 161

    A New Spin on a Classic Architecture: Achieving a Fully Differential Output Using Single-Ended Instrumentation Amplifiers

    Issue 161, January 2019
  • RAQ Issue: 160

    Simple Circuit Measures Relative Intensity of Two Light Sources

    Issue 160, December 2018
  • RAQ Issue: 159

    When Grounds Are Separated

    Issue 159, November 2018
  • RAQ Issue: 158

    Driving a Unipolar Gate Driver in a Bipolar Way

    Issue 158, October 2018
  • RAQ Issue: 157

    Overvoltage Protection for RTD-Based Measurement Systems

    Issue 157, September 2018
  • RAQ Issue: 156

    Optimized Power Supply Measurement Setup

    Issue 156, August 2018
  • RAQ Issue: 155

    Home on the Range: Getting Multiple Gain Ranges With Instrumentation Amplifiers

    Issue 155, July 2018
  • RAQ Issue: 154

    Pocket-Size White Noise Generator for Quickly Testing Circuit Signal Response

    Issue 154, June 2018
  • RAQ Issue: 153

    High Speed ADC Power Supply Domains

    Issue 153, May 2018
  • RAQ Issue: 152

    Problem Solver: Multiplying Digital-to-Analog Converter

    Issue 152, April 2018
  • RAQ Issue: 151

    High-Side Current Sensing

    Issue 151, March 2018
  • RAQ: Issue 150

    Dynamic Use of the Disable Pin on an Amplifier

    Issue 150, February 2018
  • RAQ: Issue 149

    Intermediate Voltage to Increase Power Conversion Efficiency

    Issue 149, January 2018
  • RAQ: Issue 148

    Unique Gate Drive Applications Enable Rapidly Switching On/Off for Your High Power Amplifier

    Issue 148, December 2017
  • RAQ: Issue 147

    Synchronous Rectification on the Secondary Side

    Issue 147, November 2017
  • raq-issue-146

    Why Is My Processor Leaking Power? That Sounds Like an Open-Ended Question

    Issue 146, October 2017
  • RAQ: Issue 145

    A Low Power, Low Cost, Differential Input to a Single-Ended Output Amplifier

    Issue 145, September 2017
  • RAQ: Issue 144

    Accelerometer Tilt Measure Over Temperature and in the Presence of Vibration

    Issue 144, August 2017
  • RAQ: Issue 143

    Burned by Low Power? When Lower Current Consumption Can Get You Into Trouble

    Issue 143, July 2017
  • RAQ: Issue 142

    Orthogonal Perspectives

    Issue 142, June 2017
  • RAQ: Issue 141

    Sometimes, a Signal Needs to Ride the Rails

    Issue 141, May 2017
  • RAQ: Issue 139

    Presto! Multiply Your ADC’s Virtual Channel Count with DDC Magic

    Issue 140, April 2017
  • RAQ:Issue 139

    The Case of the Misguided Gyro

    Issue 139, March 2017
  • RAQ: Issue 138

    This Noise Will Keep You Up at Night

    Issue 138, February 2017
  • RAQ: 137

    Psychotic ADC?

    Issue 137, January 2017
  • RAQ: Issue 136

    Precision Current Outputs Are Easy to Make

    Issue 136, December 2016
  • RAQ: Issue 135

    Amplifier RF: Think Before you Choose!

    Issue 135, November 2016
  • RAQ: Issue 134

    Because Mr. Ohm Said So …

    Issue 134, October 2016
  • RAQ: Issue 133

    Common Sense for Current Sensing

    Issue 133, September 2016
  • RAQ: Issue 132

    Choosing a Precision Op Amp? Trust Goldilocks.

    Issue 132, August 2016
  • RAQ: Issue 131

    Going Full Tilt

    Issue 131, July 2016
  • RAQ: Issue 130

    Who Killed the Component?

    Issue 130, June 2016
  • RAQ: Issue 129

    Who Ate My dBs?

    Issue 129, May 2016
  • RAQ: Issue 128

    Citius, Altius, Fortius

    Issue 128, April 2016
  • RAQ: Issue 127

    Kalman or FIR Filter for My IMU?

    Issue 127, March 2016
  • RAQ: Issue 126

    When Second Sources Aren't

    Issue 126, February 2016
  • RAQ: Issue 125

    O CMRR, CMRR! Wherefore Art Thou CMRR?

    Issue 125, January 2016
  • RAQ: Issue 124

    Missing Half the Signal

    Issue 124, December 2015
  • RAQ: Issue 123

    Unused Pins

    Issue 123, November 2015
  • RAQ: Issue 122

    The Truth About Voltage Feedback Resistors

    Issue 122, October 2015
  • RAQ: Issue 121

    Unfiltered Analog

    Issue 121, September 2015
  • RAQ: Issue 120

    Voltage References Can Bite You, Too

    Issue 120, August 2015
  • RAQ: Issue 119

    The Ingenious Gentleman and the Mysterious Paddle

    Issue 119, July 2015
  • RAQ: Issue 118

    Mystery Spur Explained: Don't Blame the DDC!

    Issue 118, June 2015
  • RAQ: Issue 117

    Murphy Rules!

    Issue 117, May 2015
  • RAQ: Issue 116

    Muntzing can save cost, components, and even your sanity

    Issue 116, April 2015
  • RAQ: Issue 115

    Isn’t that gain specification a bit lopsided?

    Issue 115, March 2015
  • RAQ: Issue 114

    Choosing Voltage References

    Issue 114, February 2015
  • RAQ: Issue 113

    Don’t Get Caught Speeding

    Issue 113, January 2015
  • RAQ: Issue 112

    Exposed Paddles and Downbonds Improve Performance and Reduce Pin Count

    Issue 112, December 2014
  • RAQ: Issue 111

    Choosing Analog ICs

    Issue 111, November 2014
  • RAQ: Issue 110

    I Grew Up in the 80s and Survived!

    Issue 110, October 2014
  • RAQ: Issue 109

    ADCs for High Dynamic Range – Successive-Approximation or Sigma-Delta?

    Issue 109, September 2014
  • RAQ: Issue 108

    LEDs are Photodiodes Too

    Issue 108, August 2014
  • RAQ: Issue 107

    The Diamond Plot

    Issue 107, July 2014
  • RAQ: Issue 106

    Overranged Converter Recovers Quickly

    Issue 106, June 2014
  • RAQ: Issue 105

    Discretion is the better part…

    Issue 105, May 2014
  • RAQ: Issue 104

    Looking for Trouble in All the Wrong Places

    Issue 104, April 2014
  • RAQ: Issue 103

    Programmable ADC Input Range Provides System Benefits

    Issue 103, March 2014
  • RAQ: Issue 102

    Defying Scrooge

    Issue 102, February 2014
  • RAQ: Issue 101

    Bits Per Second Make My Head Hertz

    Issue 101, January 2014
  • RAQ: Issue 100

    RAQs: 100 Issues and Counting

    Issue 100, December 2013
  • RAQ: Issue 99

    Overrange Flag Indicates Data Validity

    Issue 99, November 2013
  • RAQ: Issue 98

    Design Tools and Support Communities Make Analog Fun, not Fearful

    Issue 98, October 2013
  • RAQ: Issue 97

    EngineerZone Makes Getting Answers a Breeze

    Issue 97, September 2013
  • RAQ: Issue 96

    Soft Clipping vs. Hard Clipping

    Issue 96, August 2013
  • RAQ: Issue 95

    Do-it-Yourself ASICs

    Issue 95, July 2013
  • RAQ: Issue 94

    Crystal Radio Sets and Op Amps—Both Can Detect RF Signals

    Issue 94, June 2013
  • RAQ: Issue 93

    Input Magic—Differential Signals Allow Input Swing to Exceed Supply Voltage

    Issue 93, May 2013
  • RAQ: Issue 92

    Multipliers and Modulators

    Issue 92, April 2013
  • RAQ: Issue 91

    Noise Gain vs. Signal Gain

    Issue 91, March 2013
  • RAQ: Issue 90

    Resolution vs. ENOB – Still Hazy After All These Years

    Issue 90, February 2013
  • RAQ: Issue 89

    Electronics is Fun

    Issue 89, January 2013
  • RAQ: Issue 88

    The Decline of Rounding—or How Significant is Significance?

    Issue 88, December 2012
  • raq-issue-87

    Apples and Oranges—Correlating Specifications Requires Common Test Conditions

    Issue 87, November 2012
  • raq-issue-86

    Current Transformers—and Vacuum Cleaners

    Issue 86, October 2012
  • raq-issue-85

    Great Expectations Come From Basic Understandings

    Issue 85, September 2012
  • raq-issue-84

    Driving Miss ADC

    Issue 84, August 2012
  • raq-issue-83

    Dual Op Amps and Double Agents

    Issue 83, July 2012
  • raq-issue-82

    Transformers: They’re Not All Boat Anchors

    Issue 82, June 2012
  • raq-issue-81

    Switching Bits

    Issue 81, May 2012
  • raq-issue-80

    The Electromotive Force and Op Amps

    Issue 80, April 2012
  • RAQ: Issue 79

    Nobody is Perfect – Not Even an Engineer!

    Issue 79, March 2012
  • RAQ: Issue 78

    Considerations on High-Speed Converter PCB Design, Part 4: Plane Coupling

    Issue 78, February 2012
  • RAQ: Issue 77

    Beware of big claims and large numbers.

    Issue 77, January 2012
  • RAQ: Issue 76

    In and Out – or – Why Have a Capacitor?

    Issue 76, December 2011
  • RAQ: Issue 75

    Crosstalkin’ Converters

    Issue 75, November 2011
  • RAQ: Issue 74

    Rotary Potentiometers: There Must Be a Better Option

    Issue 74, October 2011
  • RAQ: Issue 73

    The Benefits of Ancient Logic

    Issue 73, September 2011
  • RAQ: Issue 72

    Balancing Phase in High-Speed Converters

    Issue 72, August 2011
  • RAQ: Issue 71

    Looking for savings in all the wrong places

    Issue 71, July 2011
  • RAQ: Issue 70

    Do Something with that Unused Pin!

    Issue 70, June 2011
  • RAQ: Issue 69

    Considerations on High-Speed Converter PCB Design, Part 3: The E-Pad Low Down

    Issue 69, May 2011
  • RAQ: Issue 68

    A Foolish Question about Op Amps and Capacitors

    Issue 68, April 2011
  • RAQ: Issue 67

    Measuring the DC Parameters of Op Amps

    Issue 67, March 2011
  • RAQ: Issue 66

    Considerations on High-Speed Converter PCB Design, Part 2: Power and Ground Planes.

    Issue 66, February 2011
  • RAQ: Issue 65

    Op Amp Dedicated Feedback Pin Helps Achieve New Levels of Performance.

    Issue 65, January 2011
  • RAQ: Issue 64

    Oversampling and Undersampling

    Issue 64, December 2010
  • RAQ: Issue 63

    Considerations on High-Speed Converter PCB Design, Part 1: Power and Ground Planes.

    Issue 63, November 2010
  • RAQ: Issue 62

    Is amplifier headroom cramping your style?

    Issue 62, October 2010
  • RAQ: Issue 61

    Make do!

    Issue 61, September 2010
  • RAQ: Issue 60

    Watch for Those Multiple Clocking Edges!

    Issue 60, August 2010
  • RAQ: Issue 59

    Is Your Amplifier Disabled, or is it Merely Sleeping?

    Issue 59, July 2010
  • RAQ: Issue 58

    How to Avoid Burning Cakes

    Issue 58, June 2010
  • RAQ: Issue 57

    Keeping Your A/D Converter Clocks Jitter Free

    Issue 57, May 2010
  • RAQ: Issue 56

    Amplifier, attenuator or both?

    Issue 56, April 2010
  • RAQ: Issue 55

    Taming A/D Converter Power Supplies

    Issue 55, March 2010
  • RAQ: Issue 54

    Don’t be Mean - be Root Mean Square!

    Issue 54, February 2010
  • RAQ: Issue 53

    VFB or CFB that is the question!

    Issue 53, January 2010
  • RAQ: Issue 52

    Bring on the Converter Noise! – Part 2

    Issue 52, December 2009
  • RAQ: Issue 51

    Bring on the Converter Noise! – Part 1

    Issue 51, November 2009
  • RAQ: Issue 50

    What’s the big deal about ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM RATINGS?

    Issue 50, October 2009
  • RAQ: Issue 49

    What’s the (Converter) Frequency Kenneth?

    Issue 49, September 2009
  • RAQ: Issue 48

    Some Chips Have Moving Parts!

    Issue 48, August 2009
  • RAQ: Issue 47

    Which carries more weight, a datasheet or SPICE macromodel?

    Issue 47, July 2009
  • RAQ: Issue 46

    What shall we do with an unused op-amp?

    Issue 46, June 2009
  • RAQ: Issue 45

    Glass Diodes May See the Light — and Hum

    Issue 45, May 2009
  • RAQ: Issue 44

    Keeping Common Modes Common

    Issue 44, April 2009
  • RAQ: Issue 43

    Impedance Measuring Chip Offers Little Resistance to Applications

    Issue 43, March 2009
  • RAQ: Issue 42

    Are Your Filters Filtering?

    Issue 42, February 2009
  • RAQ: Issue 41

    What’s in Your Toolbox?

    Issue 41, January 2009
  • RAQ: Issue 40

    How Big Is It?

    Issue 40, December 2008
  • RAQ: Issue 39

    What The Heck Are Off-Amps?

    Issue 39, November 2008
  • RAQ: Issue 38

    Single Supply Amplifiers—They Sound Simple…are they?

    Issue 38, October 2008
  • RAQ: Issue 37

    Lock Down That Noise — Don’t Let It Escape

    Issue 37, September 2008
  • RAQ: Issue 36

    The Difference Between Different Differential Amplifiers

    Issue 36, August 2008
  • RAQ: Issue 35

    Stress Is Bad For You — and For Analog ICs

    Issue 35, July 2008
  • RAQ: Issue 34

    A Capaciticectomy? Sounds Awfully Painful!

    Issue 34, June 2008
  • RAQ: Issue 33

    Hysteresis Blocks Magic

    Issue 33, May 2008
  • RAQ: Issue 31

    Too Hot or Too Cold May Be Just Right*

    Issue 31, March 2008
  • RAQ: Issue 30

    Capacitive Sensors: Rugged Enough for the Real World?

    Issue 30, February 2008
  • RAQ: Issue 29

    Half Full or Half Empty? Thoughts on Capacity.

    Issue 29, January 2008
  • RAQ: Issue 28

    What's Your Amplifier's Febricity Due to Electricity?

    Issue 28, December 2007
  • RAQ: Issue 27

    Resistors Have Hidden Depths

    Issue 27, November 2007
  • RAQ: Issue 26

    Op-Amp Noise can be Deafening Too

    Issue 26, October 2007
  • RAQ: Issue 25

    Resistor Noise can be Deafening, and Hard to Reduce

    Issue 25, September 2007
  • RAQ: Issue 24

    Are leaky amps sinking your design?

    Issue 24, August 2007
  • RAQ: Issue 23

    Should you butcher your circuit or your test gear?

    Issue 23, June 2007
  • RAQ: Issue 22

    Things (animals and ADCs) are not always what they seem

    Issue 22, May 2007
  • RAQ: Issue 21

    Breadboarding With Surface Mount ICs

    Issue 21, April 2007
  • RAQ: Issue 20

    Igor, pass me some supply sequencers!

    Issue 20, March 2007
  • RAQ: Issue 19

    Observing Maximum Ratings or How to Avoid Forecasts of Doom

    Issue 19, February 2007
  • RAQ: Issue 18

    Just How Accurate was William Tell, Anyway?

    Issue 18, January 2007
  • RAQ: Issue 17

    More Chips are Better than One (or the Benefits of Belgian Food)

    Issue 17, December 2006
  • RAQ: Issue 16

    Replacing Optocouplers with Digital Isolators

    Issue 16, November 2006
  • RAQ: Issue 15

    How to Age Gracefully and Avoid Sudden Death

    Issue 15, October 2006
  • RAQ: Issue 14

    Why Good Engineers Use the Best Components

    Issue 14, September 2006
  • RAQ: Issue 13

    Sigma Delta Converters are Not Really Hard to Understand

    Issue 13, July 2006
  • RAQ: Issue 12

    How Not to Design Active Filters

    Issue 12, June 2006
  • RAQ: Issue 11

    Comparators & Op Amps—May They Never Meet

    Issue 11, May 2006
  • RAQ: Issue 10

    Digital Processing Does Not Always Rule

    Issue 10, April 2006
  • RAQ: Issue 9

    Grounding Converters

    Issue 9, March 2006
  • RAQ: Issue 8

    Happy Groundhog Day!

    Issue 8, February 2006
  • RAQ: Issue 7

    It’s easy to drive an EE to drink—but what drives one to poetry?

    Issue 7, January 2006
  • RAQ: Issue 6

    Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock

    Issue 6, December 2005
  • RAQ: Issue 5

    Check the Bias Current

    Issue 5, November 2005
  • RAQ: Issue 4

    Caveat Emptor!

    Issue 4, October 2005
  • RAQ: Issue 3

    Isolating the Key Detail

    Issue 3, September 2005
  • RAQ: Issue 2

    Slow “starting” ADCs

    Issue 2, July 2005
  • RAQ: Issue 1

    Radio Frequency Interference (or how to get a free lunch at a very good restaurant)

    Issue 1, June 2005
    •