A short app note from Silicon Labs on burying pads to prevent snopping on keypads. Link here (PDF) An individual’s financial matters are increasingly electronic in nature and decreasingly interpersonal. As financial institutions replace human interaction with electronic interfaces such as ATMs, the need to make electronic circuits tamper-proof becomes critical. A typical numeric keypad […]
Tag Archives: Silicon Labs
App note: Selecting a FET for use with the Si875x driver
Another application note from Silicon Labs on determining the proper FET used on their Si875x driver based on its application. Link here (PDF) The Si875x enables creating custom solid state relay (SSR) configurations. Supporting customer-selected external FETs, the Si875x combines robust isolation technology with a FET driver to form a complete, isolated, switch. Versatile inputs […]
App note: Driving MOSFET and IGBT switches using the Si828x
App note from Silicon Labs on their MOSFET and IGBT driver Si828x and how to determining its external components to achieve optimized performance. Link here (PDF) The Si828x products integrate isolation, gate drivers, fault detection protection, and operational indicators into one package to drive IGBTs and MOSFETs as well as other gated power switch devices. […]
App note: Power supply rejection for low-jitter clocks
Method of rejecting noises from power supply, an app note from Silicon Labs. Link here (PDF) Hardware designers are routinely challenged to increase functional density while shrinking the overall PCB footprint of each new design. One significant challenge is minimizing clock jitter through careful board design while meeting the design’s functional and space requirements. Since […]
App note: Safety considerations and layout recommendations for digital isolators
Application note from Silicon Labs about end user safety against high voltage shock that are designed together with digital isolators. Link here (PDF) This application note details the creepage and clearance requirements of an isolator type component, such as a digital isolator, used to provide protection from electric shock. It also details layout recommendations to […]
App note: Redefining a new state-of-the-art in microampere current-sense amplifiers
Silicon Lab’s TS1100 and TS1101 current sense amplifier’s features discussed in this app note. Link here (PDF) Sensing and controlling supply current flow are a fundamental requirement in most all electronic systems from battery-operated, portable equipment to mobile or fixed-platform power management and dc motor control. High-side current-sense amplifiers (or “CSAs”) are useful in these […]
App note: High-speed level shifting using Si8XXX isolators
Silicon Lab’s Si86xx which provides digital isolation and voltage level shifting while Si823x as ISOdrivers, Link here (PDF) Voltage level shifting is common in analog and mixed-signal system applications. While several technologies implement level shifting (e.g., HVIC processes, discrete circuits, dedicated level shifting ICs), recent advances in CMOS isolation technology enables fast, reliable, and highly-integrated […]
App note: Novel current-sense measurement with automatic offset correction
Silicon Labs’ application note about a low power current measurement circuit using TS1001 nano power op-amp paired with low-power CY8C38 microcontroller, Link here (PDF) Pairing a simple circuit using nanopower analog op amps with a microcontroller can monitor single battery cells and solar harvesters. Pairing up a 0.65 V/1 µA nanopower op amp with the […]
App note: Alkaline battery low-voltage indicator
Battery low-voltage indicator made from two new comparators TSM9118 and TMS9119 from Silicon Labs. Link here (PDF) In many battery-powered systems, a user would like to know when it is time to replace the batteries before they are completely discharged, causing the device being powered to fail completely. Alkaline batteries have an open cell voltage […]
App note: EFM32 Energy Modes
Application note from Silicon Labs on their EFM32 energy saving microcontrollers, some interesting points are discussed how these type of microcontrollers can conserve power. Link here (PDF) In battery powered microcontroller applications, energy saving is essential. By reducing the current consumption, the mean time between battery charging / replacement can be significantly increased. Following these principles will […]
App note: A microwatt charge pump boosts 1 V to 1.8 V at 90% efficiency, providing “Always On” standby power for microcontrollers
Silicon Labs’ app note featuring low power boost for microcontrollers. Link here (PDF) Boosting the output voltage of common alkaline button-cells to at least 1.8 V needed by microcontrollers provides an “always on” standby power source sufficient for low-power oscillator interrupt/sleep state operation. Two ultralow power op amps are used in a charge pump configuration […]
App note: Designer’s guide for the Si114x
Si114x proximity sensors from Silicon Labs design guide. Link here This application note provides an outline for using the Si114x proximity detector and ambient-light sensor. General considerations of electrical and optical component selection, programming, and power consumption are explained so as to cover the majority of situations.
App note: Touchless lavatory appliance design
Using the Silicon Labs’s Si1141 sensor and C8051F9xx series microcontroller for touchless lavatory. Link here The Si1141 is a single-channel, reflectance-based proximity detector with an integrated ambient light sensor and can be used as a touchless sensor IC in lavatory appliances. As a proximity detector, the Si1141 has two infrared photodiodes, flexible ADC integration time, […]
App note: Low cost I2C level translator
2 Diodes, 3 resistors and a transistor here’s Silicon Labs’ low cost solution on voltage level translation. Link here This applications note discusses a low-cost circuit for I2C level translation. This circuit was developed for the Si701x, Si702x, and Si703x humidity sensors but will work in many applications. This circuit provides I2C level translation from […]
App note: Isolator vs. optocoupler technology
Great read from Silicon Labs on comparison of isolation technologies namely optocouplers and digital isolators. Link is here Optocouplers have been the unchallenged signal isolation solution for more than four decades, but digital isolators fabricated in complementary metallic oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process technology are gaining favor in the design community because of their superior performance, […]
App note: Magnetic stripe reader
Application note(PDF) from Silicon Labs on Magnetic stripe reader (MSR) implementation. Magnetic stripe readers (MSRs) are widely used in many different applications such as point-of-sale terminals and key card readers. The C8051F330 is capable of integrating MSR functionality in a very small space with few external components. The high-speed, high-resolution ADC, coupled with a fast […]
App note: SMBus communication for small form factor device families
SMBus specifications and example implementation on Silabs’ C8051F3xx and C8051F41x. App note here(PDF) This application note describes the SMBus specification, how to configure and use the on-chip SMBus interface, and SMBus debugging techniques. Code examples written in C provide the general framework for most SM Bus Master and Slave implementations. An example that interfaces to […]
App note: Improving ADC resolution by oversampling and averaging
Silicon Labs’ application note (PDF!) on improving ADC resolution by oversampling and averaging: This application note describes utilizing oversampling and averaging to increase the resolution and SNR of analog-to-digital conversions. Oversampling and averaging can increase the resolution of a measurement without resorting to the cost and complexity of using expensive off-chip ADCs. This application note discusses how […]
App note: Low pin-count LCD interface
Back to basic LCD interfacing app note(PDF!) from Silicon Labs. This application note provides an example interface for a C8051F330 device with an example LCD. First, this application note describes how an LCD works and then describes the two types of LCDs: direct drive and multiplexed drive. Next, the software interface and structure are explained. […]
App note: Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) implementation on C8051F326/7 devices
An AES implementation on Silicon Labs’ C8051F326/7 microcontrollers app note(PDF!) The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is an algorithm used to encrypt and decrypt data for the purposes of protecting the data when it is transmitted electronically. The AES algorithm allows for the use of cipher keys that are 128, 192, or 256 bits long to […]