Table Of Content

Storage 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]

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Storage 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]

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