EDN: Voice of the Engineer

Oscilloscopes utilize both hardware and software tools to enhance the resolution of time measurements. Happily, most of the processing is transparent. The primary display from an oscilloscope is amplitude versus time. Most of the focus when using oscilloscopes is on the vertical axis, including amplitude resolution, analog bandwidth, and vertical accuracy. The time axis does not seem to get equal billing. That’s because oscilloscope time bases are very good.

Odorless. Colorless. Tasteless. But certainly not harmless. Radon, in both air and ground water, is a health risk whose prevalence should be regularly assessed and, if necessary, dealt with.

The Controller Area Network (CAN) extended data-field length (XL) specification—which has been standardized for years—now has the first commercially available CAN XL transceiver. Texas Instruments has unveiled the TCAN6062 CAN XL transceiver, which supports payloads of up to 2,048 bytes per frame and data rates up to 20 Mbps.

A high-speed USB-to-UART bridge, MaxLinear’s Carmel MxL81434 supports console access and infrastructure management in AI data centers and hyperscale cloud environments. The highly integrated device includes USB 2.0 High-Speed (480 Mbps) connectivity, four independent UART channels operating at up to 15 Mbps each, an I2C master, and 32 GPIOs for server and rack-scale management designs.

ROHM is offering the RTD-EVK-G2 evaluation kit, based on its second-generation terahertz-wave oscillation device. Built using resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs), the device delivers up to 40 µW of output power, four times that of the first-generation product.

NoMIS Power has developed a 6.5-kV large-die SiC MOSFET that has demonstrated over 8 kV of blocking voltage, 90-mΩ on-resistance, and 55-A drain current. Based on the planar SiC technology used in its 3.3-kV devices, the 6.5-kV MOSFET extends the technology into the high-voltage class and provides a foundation for the company’s planned 10-kV MOSFETs and 20-kV SiC IGBTs. NoMIS is sampling the 6.5-kV SiC MOSFET to U.S.-based customers, with standard-production devices scheduled for Q4 2026.

The KTS1630 5-A eFuse from Kinetic Technologies protects sensitive electronics against overcurrent, short circuits, and thermal faults. It is designed for consumer and industrial systems operating from 5-V and 12-V power rails, helping improve system safety and reliability. By detecting overcurrent conditions typically within 100 ns, the device can isolate faults before they can damage downstream circuitry.

NEO.AI is a memory platform from NEO Semiconductor that overcomes SRAM and DRAM scaling limitations in AI memory systems. As part of the platform launch, NEO Semiconductor is introducing its X-SRAM technology for on-chip memory in GPUs and AI processors and reporting its latest progress on 3D X-DRAM, a high-capacity memory technology for HBM.

AI-driven demand underpins logic foundry and memory fab capacity constraints, leading to cost increases. Add tariffs to the mix, and Google and its competitors (not to mention end users) pay the price. Last year’s Made By Google fall product launch event happened midday on August 20, moderated by Jimmy Fallon.

This circuit enables you to generate remote control PWM test signals with a (very) generic (and cheap) chip. A recent Design Idea illustrated the application of an interesting chip (the LTC6992) to remote control (RC) PWM test signal generation. Being familiar with neither the application nor the chip, and despite being a (very) old dog, I decided to try to learn a new trick or two. So I took a trip Through the Looking Glass into the LTC6992 datasheet. Here’s what I found there.