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Simple mathematical analysis shows that the best answer to address this problem is to  select a CR ratio QGD/QGS1 that is less than 1. Other factors to consider for preventing C dv/dt induced turn-on include low driver-sinking impedance (<1 Ώ), a FET design with intrinsically low RG, an externally-applied G-S capacitor and Q2 packages that minimize parasitics and voltage ringing.

The embedded world is constantly changing. You might not have noticed, but if you take a minute to recall what a microcontroller system was like 10 years ago and compare it to today's latest microcontroller systems, you will find that PCB design, component packages, level of integration, clock speed, and memory size have all going through several generations of change. One of the hottest topics in this area is when will the last of remaining 8-bit microcontroller users start to move away from legacy architectures and move to modern 32-bit processor architectures like the ARM Cortex-M based microcontroller family. Over the last few years there has been a strong momentum of embedded developers starting the migration to 32-bit microcontrollers and, in this multi-part article, we will take a look at some of the factors accelerating this migration.

This book is intended for those who work in or provide components for industries that use digital signal processing (DSP). There is a wide variety of industries that utilize this technology. While the engineers who implement applications using DSP must be very familiar with the technology, there are many others who can benefit from a basic knowledge of its' fundamental principals, which is the goal of this book—to provide a basic tutorial on DSP.

Kota Nezu of ZNUG Design talks about his work developing the look of ZMP’s RoboCar, an educational platform for researchers working on autonomous vehicles.  The video is entirely Japanese, but you can see some cool CAD work and there’s some explanatory slides in this .PDF file.  Nezu-san also designed ZMP’s e-nuvo Humanoid, and Toyota’s personal transporter, the i-unit (seen in model form on his desk).  Part 2 follows after the break for those interested.

The first part of this white paper explores the basic concepts behind HDMI, the markets it serves and its leadership role in multimedia interfaces. This is followed by a tutorial on the new capabilities of HDMI 1.4 and their role in providing a richer, more straightforward user experience. Next, we'll explore a series of user case scenarios that illustrate how the HEAC feature can simplify cabling requirements between digital home multimedia devices. The last portion of this paper discusses the architectural considerations and technical details involved with incorporating the Ethernet and Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format (S/PDIF) standards into the HDMI system-on-chips (SoCs) to support the HEAC feature.

Today's FPGAs are doubling in capacity every 2 years and have already surpassed the 5 million equivalent ASIC gate mark. With designs of this magnitude, the need for fast flows has never been greater. At the same time, designers are seeking rapid feedback on their ASIC or FPGA designs by implementing quick prototypes or initial designs on FPGA-based boards. These prototypes or designs allow designers to start development, verification and debug of the design—in the context of system software and hardware—and also to fine tune algorithms in the design architecture. Quick and intuitive debug iterations to incorporate fixes are of great value. The ability to perform design updates that don't completely uproot all parts of the design that have already been verified is also a bonus! Whether the goal is aggressive performance or to get a working initial design or prototype on the board as quickly as possible, this paper provides information on traditional and new techniques that accelerate design and debug iterations.

Tiny semiconductor dots could lead to a new type of circuit based on magnetism rather than current flow. At least that’s the hope of researchers who’ve made the dots and are hoping to build them into a workable device. ”We want to make it into a so-called nonvolatile transistor,” says Kang Wang, head of the Device Research Laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles. Such a ”spintronic” transistor would retain its logic state in the absence of current and require less power to switch a bit, reducing the electrical power required by a computer chip by as much as 99 percent. Wang’s research, supported in part by Intel, was published in March in the online version of Nature Materials. Where electronic transistors rely on the presence or absence of current to register the ones and zeros of digital logic, spintronic transistors depend on ”spin,” a quantum characteristic of the electron. Picture the electron as a rotating globe. When the north pole is pointing upward, that’s spin up; when pointing the other way, it’s spin down. When the spins of most electrons are aligned, the material is magnetic. When their spins are random, the material isn’t. An applied current can align or randomize the spins, allowing for spin-based switches.