How to Meet Three Key Requirements for Power Designers – Green Mode Fairchild...
Can you name some of the things that power design engineers are always on the lookout for? If you said simple designs, high reliability, and high performance, you’d be correct. To address these needs,...
View ArticleNeed to Make Small Speakers Sound Louder and Better? Now You Can!
What’s the #1 audio design challenge? You’ve got it – making small speakers sound louder and better, while minimizing the impact on battery life. It’s a big challenge, one faced by mobile engineers...
View ArticlePro audio techniques applied in mobile devices to improve sound quality
The mobile industry continues to reign supreme but it does have its challenges, one of which is audio quality. Surprisingly, the audio quality of mobile phones is something that has been largely...
View ArticleGood Weekend for the Tri for a Cure!
Good luck to all the participants in the Tri for a Cure this weekend. The race benefits the Maine Cancer Foundation and 100% of the funds raised remain in Maine. Here’s a link to the website if you...
View ArticleLouder and Better Audio for Mobile Phones
Research shows that over 90 percent of people who purchase a mobile phone are influenced by its sound quality. In the age of smart phones, people use the conference call speaker mode more than ever....
View ArticleSmart power modules becoming more efficient
Smart power switches help reduce losses up to 25% and allow the use of compact control solutions for BLDC motors. Energy saving drives with brushless DC motors can be found everywhere, and the dust...
View ArticleFairchild Beach 2 Beacon Team
It was another great year for the Fairchild Semiconductor Beach to Beacon team. Approximately 60 employees completed the race, and our ‘first timers’ turned in impressive results. One of our company...
View ArticleWould you like to Simplify your Lighting Designs?
You can simplify design complexity and increase your energy-efficiency in limited PCB space with Fairchild’s low-, mid- and high- power LED Lighting solutions. Benefits for your designs include an...
View ArticleEliminate Components and Save Costs for Welding Machine Applications
Posted for: Wanki Hong, Applications Engineer, Fairchild Semiconductor Research is ongoing for a more efficient DC-ARC welding machine that combines low voltage with a large current. Various...
View ArticleThe Joys of Superposition – Part One
Dear Dr. Engleberry, I have to analyze the control loop of a circuit that uses your voltage-mode FAN1577A switching regulator, but the complex equations are overwhelming. I like the part with its...
View ArticleAnalog Switches in the Audio Path
As more and more people listen to music using mobile phones, audio engineers are working hard to deliver high-end audio quality. A typical mid-to-high-end mobile phone design has multiple sources...
View ArticleAnswering the Call for “Smarter” Smartphones
Today’s smartphones have integrated themselves into our personal daily lives as well as our business lives. Smartphone sales are rising with every passing year, and show no signs of slowing down....
View ArticleSmaller, Louder Speakers Have Arrived!
Name that audio design challenge! You’ve got it – Making Small Speakers Sound Louder and BetterTM, while minimizing impact on battery life is an important audio design challenge facing mobile...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor Launches Power Supply WebDesigner
Designers facing the challenge of creating a flyback circuit for their applications’ power supply now have a tool to help them complete their design faster, with no worries about bench prototypes or...
View ArticleNeed to Design a Dimmable LED Lamp Small Enough to Fit Existing Sockets?
LED lighting continues to grow in popularity, with significant growth expected over the next several years, especially in residential lighting applications. One of the features commonly required in...
View ArticleVoltage-mode CRM PFC for lighting offers higher efficiency, improves reliability
When it comes to lighting, efficiency and reliability are critical. Critical-conduction mode (CRM) power factor correction (PFC) controllers are available with two different control modes:...
View ArticleAre you ready for 2013?
We may be getting ready for New Year ‘s Eve 2012, but power designers are already looking at 2013, since it will be a year of significant changes. The EU eco-design directive ErP (Energy-related...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor Highlights Power Supply Solutions and Design Tools at...
At APEC 2012, in booth #701, February 5-9, 2012, at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, Orlando, Fairchild Semiconductor, (NYSE: FCS) a leading global supplier of high performance power and mobile...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor Demos at APEC 2012 Focus on Energy Saving Challenges...
At APEC 2012, in booth #701, February 5-9, 2012, at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, Orlando, Fairchild Semiconductor, (NYSE: FCS) a leading global supplier of high performance power and mobile...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor Technology Experts Presenting at APEC 2012
At APEC 2012, in booth #701, February 5-9, 2012, at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, Orlando, Fairchild Semiconductor, (NYSE: FCS) a leading global supplier of high performance power and mobile...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor’s Demos DC-DC Conversion Solutions at APEC 2012
At APEC 2012, in booth #701, February 5-9, 2012, at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, Orlando, Fairchild Semiconductor will showcase high-performance point-of-load digital power solutions using an...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor’s LED Lighting Demo at APEC 2012 Focuses on Low to...
With the increasing popularity of LED lighting applications, designers face challenges ranging from design complexity and the need for high system efficiency to limited PCB space and the management of...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor’s Power Supply Demos at APEC 2012 Showcase mWSaver™...
As standby power requirements in devices such as notebooks, printers, LCD TVs and monitors continue to decrease, below 50mW in many applications, designers need a solution to address standby power...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor Highlights Sustainable Energy Solutions at APEC 2012
New, innovative power electronic technologies are required to help sustainable energy manufacturers reduce cost, improve efficiency and improve reliability. Semiconductor companies such as Fairchild...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor to Showcase Major Power and Mobile Technology...
At IIC China 2012, in booth #1Q19, 23-25 February 2012, at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, Fairchild Semiconductor, (NYSE: FCS) a leading global supplier of high performance power and...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor’s Demos at IIC China 2012 Focus on Energy Saving and...
At IIC China 2012, in booth #1Q19, 23-25 February 2012, at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, Fairchild Semiconductor, (NYSE: FCS) a leading global supplier of high performance power and...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor Technology Experts Present at IIC China 2012
At IIC China 2012, in booth #1Q19, 23-25 February 2012, at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, Fairchild Semiconductor, (NYSE: FCS) a leading global supplier of high performance power and...
View ArticleLamp drivers enable future residential LED lighting
The worldwide market for light bulbs was a little over 20 billion units for the year 2010 with the LED unit count approximately 0.5% or 96 million units, as Brian Johnson, Lighting Specialist at...
View ArticlePulling up your Gate Drive by its own Bootstrap
Dear Dr. Engleberry. I put a “bootstrap” capacitor on my synchronous buck converter and I understand its purpose, but are there design tradeoffs and possible problems I should be aware of? —Flying...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor to Showcase Industrial Power, Automotive, LED...
Fairchild Semiconductor, a leading global supplier of high performance power and mobile products, will demonstrate innovative power solutions for real success at PCIM Europe 2012, 08-10 May, in Hall...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor Experts at PCIM Europe 2012 Focus on Innovative Power...
Fairchild Semiconductor, a leading global supplier of high performance power and mobile products, will demonstrate innovative power solutions for real success at PCIM Europe 2012, 08-10 May, in Hall...
View ArticleFairchild to Demonstrate Solutions to Meet Industrial Power Supply Design...
Designers of solar power inverters, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and welding applications are encouraged to visit the Fairchild Semiconductor booth (Hall 11, Booth #320) at PCIM 2012 to...
View ArticleFairchild Experts to Discuss Automotive Solutions at PCIM 2012
Increasing efficiency and reliability in hybrid and electric vehicle (EV) applications requires inverter designs with higher drive current and increased power efficiency. Fairchild Semiconductor will...
View ArticleFairchild LED Lighting Solutions on Display at PCIM 2012
Although LED lighting is a promising solution for replacing conventional lighting sources, such as fluorescent and incandescent lights, designers face several obstacles in the design of residential and...
View ArticleFairchild Semiconductor’s DC-DC Conversion Solutions on Display at PCIM 2012
DC-DC power applications push designers to deliver better efficiency and increased maximum load current while simplifying board layout and reducing component footprint. To meet these challenges...
View ArticleLow-power LED Lighting: Leveraging a Technique from Battery Chargers to...
With LED lightingapplications operating under 35W, such as interior light bulbs, there exist a tough set of challenges for the LED driver designer. The design must be small enough to fit in a standard...
View ArticleBright Ideas for Low-power LED Lighting: Cost-cutting Solutions for the Three...
As low-power LED bulbsbegin to displace traditional incandescent and halogen bulbs in residential and retail applications, there’s a growing need to design compact, cost-effective LED replacements that...
View ArticleUpgrade to Voltage Mode: Why Using a New CRM PFC Controller Can Improve LED...
LED designs that use a critical conduction mode (CRM) power factor corrected (PFC) controller may benefit from an upgrade. The control method used by most of today’s CRM PFC controllers is current mode...
View ArticleHow Reliable is Your LED Driver Topology? A Look at Failure Rates Yields Some...
The mean time between failures (MTBF) is a quick way to gauge the reliability of an individual part. If, for example, one MOSFET has a much higher MTBF than another, then the one with the higher rating...
View ArticleA Better Retro-fit LED Topology PSR Flyback with Built-in PFC for a Compact,...
Using high-brightness, high-efficiency LED lights in new construction promises to help save energy in the future, but there are immediate gains to be had from using LEDs in retrofit bulbs. Putting a...
View ArticleWhich Power Switching Topology is Right for You? Balancing Efficiency and...
In LED lighting, matching the driver topology to the power level can be challenging. There are a number of topologies to choose from, but which one will give the right balance of size, performance, and...
View Article650V IGBT for Solar Inverters: Higher Blocking Voltage without Losing Efficiency
Designers of photovoltaic (PV) inverters have found that using an IGBT with a high blocking voltage can help increase reliability in several ways. A higher blocking voltage can increase the margin on...
View ArticleUp in Smoke: The Gnarliest and Most Effective Ways to Destroy a MOSFET
Dear Dr. Engleberry: This might seem like an odd request, but I am trying to duplicate a field failure and I need to destroy a MOSFET in the harshest, gnarliest and most-nastiest possible way. What...
View ArticleThe Next Step in Phototransistor Optocouplers
Phototransistor optocouplers have continued to evolve since they were first introduced 40 years ago, and remain popular even now. The versions most widely available today use an infrared light emitting...
View ArticleQuasi-Resonant Switching in a 30W Power Supply
For switched-mode power supplies operating at low power levels, a flyback topology typically offers the best efficiency, but there is a risk of potentially high voltage stress on the switch. Using a...
View ArticleHigher Efficiency with Space Vector PWM Control in a BLDC Motor
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of the total electricity consumed by the average modern household goes to power motors in appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners,...
View ArticleA Part of Semiconductor History Traveling the Cosmos
During the 1970s – while Fairchild Semiconductor was launching a few first in the industry devices – it was also becoming a legendary part of United States (as well as human-kind) history. In 1977,...
View ArticleFairchild High Voltage Products are Integral to the Auto Sector
While the debate on EV/HEV tax credits, battery technology and infrastructure has been a constant over the last decades, high voltage technology for Automobiles remains a key enabler for advanced...
View ArticleStabilizing Operation in a DCM Flyback with a Positive Feedback Network
Stabilizing Operation in a DCM Flyback with a Positive Feedback Network by Gwanbon Koo, Taesung Kim, Fairchild Semiconductor Flyback converters are a popular choice for low-power Switched Mode Power...
View ArticleReduce LED Flickering by Stabilizing LED Current
One of the challenges for designers of LED lamps is to create a lighting system that produces constant light output, without noticeable flickering. In systems that use a single-stage LED driver,...
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