Project Analog - April 2008 - (Page 16)

Synergistic MOSFET solutions By Lucy A. Snyder Contents Viewpoint Calculating Power Dissipation Accelerating Amplifier Design Driving Power MOSFETs Analog news M etal oxide semiconductor fieldeffect transistors (MOSFETs) have been crucial to the continuing advance of computers, cell phones, game systems, MP3/video players and other electronics. Designers use MOSFETs to make ever-smaller devices, to reduce manufacturing costs, and to reduce power consumption and heat emission while improving battery life and device performance. Engineers face several challenges when they use discrete MOSFET components in their designs. Circuit board layouts can become difficult when a designer must connect three or four separate components. The hunt for optimal layouts can result in products that are larger than desired, as well as production and development times that run over schedule. On the manufacturing level, the need for a great deal of 16 · prOjECT ANAlOg · Apr 08 discrete components can increase warehouse and inventory management costs and increase the time it takes their employees to select and qualify components. Furthermore, a chain of discrete components can easily result in poor performance due to parasitic power drains. The more components a designer includes, the greater the chance that one of them will break. From a consumer’s perspective, overuse of discrete components can result in products that are too big for popular tastes and unreliable for peoples’ needs. Every day, engineers are running up against the limitations of discrete components. And ultimately, many have discovered that there are design challenges that simply can’t be met with a series of discrete FETs, diodes, and controllers. How can de- The solution to creating electronics that feature better optimization and performance is to take standard MOSFETs and integrate new features into them to create better components. Microchip analog page MOSFET driver overview Sample center microchipDIRECT Reference designs/ app notes Technical training http://www.microchip.com http://www.microchip.com/analog http://www.microchip.com/analog http://www.microchip.com/mosfetdriver http://www.microchip.com/mosfetdriver http://sample.microchip.com/Default.aspx?testCookies=true http://www.microchipdirect.com/catalogselection.aspx?returnURL=default.aspx http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1469&filter1=function&redirects=appnotes http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1469&filter1=function&redirects=appnotes http://www.microchip.com/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=1423

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Project Analog - April 2008

Project Analog - April 2008 Contents Viewpoint About Project Analog Sponsor Calculating Power Dissipation in a MOSFET Driver Accelerating Design of >50-W Class D Amplifiers Driving Power MOSFETs in Switch Mode Power Supplies Synergistic MOSFET Solutions Trends in MOSFET Gate Drivers Analog News—Analog news from multiple sources Enter to win an iPhone Contact Project Analog Sponsor Treelink Microchip Advanced Parts Selector (MAPS)

Project Analog - April 2008

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