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A power-on reset (PoR, POR) generator is a microcontroller or microprocessor peripheral that generates a reset signal when power is applied to the device. It ensures that the device starts operating in a known state.
In VLSI devices, the power-on reset (PoR) is an electronic device incorporated into the integrated circuit that detects the power applied to the chip and generates a reset impulse that goes to the entire circuit placing it into a known state.
A simple PoR uses the charging of a capacitor, in series with a resistor, to measure a time period during which the rest of the circuit is held in a reset state. A Schmitt trigger may be used to deassert the reset signal cleanly, once the rising voltage of the RC network passes the threshold voltage of the Schmitt trigger. The resistor and capacitor values should be determined so that the charging of the RC network takes long enough that the supply voltage will have stabilised by the time the threshold is reached.
One of the issues with using an RC network to generate a PoR pulse is the sensitivity of the R and C values to the power-supply ramp characteristics. When the power supply ramp is rapid, the R and C values can be calculated so that the time to reach the switching threshold of the Schmitt trigger is enough to apply a long enough reset pulse. When the power-supply ramp itself is slow, the RC network tends to get charged up along with the power-supply ramp up. So when the input Schmitt stage is all powered up and ready, the input voltage from the RC network would already have crossed the Schmitt trigger point. This means that there might not be a reset pulse supplied to the core of the VLSI.
On an IBM mainframe, a power-on reset (POR) is a sequence of actions that the processor performs either due to a POR request from the operator or as part of turning on power. The operator requests a POR for configuration changes that cannot be recognized by a simple System Reset.
A multivibrator is an electronic circuit used to implement a variety of simple two-state devices such as relaxation oscillators, timers, latches and flip-flops. The first multivibrator circuit, the astable multivibrator oscillator, was invented by Henri Abraham and Eugene Bloch during World War I. It consisted of two vacuum tube amplifiers cross-coupled by a resistor-capacitor network. They called their circuit a "multivibrator" because its output waveform was rich in harmonics. A variety of active devices can be used to implement multivibrators that produce similar harmonic-rich wave forms; these include transistors, neon lamps, tunnel diodes and others. Although cross-coupled devices are a common form, single-element multivibrator oscillators are also common.
In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter is a system that converts an analog signal, such as a sound picked up by a microphone or light entering a digital camera, into a digital signal. An ADC may also provide an isolated measurement such as an electronic device that converts an analog input voltage or current to a digital number representing the magnitude of the voltage or current. Typically the digital output is a two's complement binary number that is proportional to the input, but there are other possibilities.
In electronics, a comparator is a device that compares two voltages or currents and outputs a digital signal indicating which is larger. It has two analog input terminals and and one binary digital output . The output is ideally
A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC), which periodically reverses direction, to direct current (DC), which flows in only one direction.
A thyristor is a solid-state semiconductor device which can be thought of as being a highly robust and switchable diode, allowing the passage of current in one direction but not the other, often under control of a gate electrode, that is used in high power applications like inverters and radar generators. It usually consists of four layers of alternating P- and N-type materials. It acts as a bistable switch. There are two designs, differing in what triggers the conducting state. In a three-lead thyristor, a small current on its gate lead controls the larger current of the anode-to-cathode path. In a two-lead thyristor, conduction begins when the potential difference between the anode and cathode themselves is sufficiently large. The thyristor continues conducting until the voltage across the device is reverse-biased or the voltage is removed, or through the control gate signal on newer types.
In electronics, a relaxation oscillator is a nonlinear electronic oscillator circuit that produces a nonsinusoidal repetitive output signal, such as a triangle wave or square wave. The circuit consists of a feedback loop containing a switching device such as a transistor, comparator, relay, op amp, or a negative resistance device like a tunnel diode, that repetitively charges a capacitor or inductor through a resistance until it reaches a threshold level, then discharges it again. The period of the oscillator depends on the time constant of the capacitor or inductor circuit. The active device switches abruptly between charging and discharging modes, and thus produces a discontinuously changing repetitive waveform. This contrasts with the other type of electronic oscillator, the harmonic or linear oscillator, which uses an amplifier with feedback to excite resonant oscillations in a resonator, producing a sine wave.
The MSP430 is a mixed-signal microcontroller family from Texas Instruments, first introduced on 14 February 1992. Built around a 16-bit CPU, the MSP430 was designed for low power consumption, embedded applications and low cost.
In electronics, a Schmitt trigger is a comparator circuit with hysteresis implemented by applying positive feedback to the noninverting input of a comparator or differential amplifier. It is an active circuit which converts an analog input signal to a digital output signal. The circuit is named a trigger because the output retains its value until the input changes sufficiently to trigger a change. In the non-inverting configuration, when the input is higher than a chosen threshold, the output is high. When the input is below a different (lower) chosen threshold the output is low, and when the input is between the two levels the output retains its value. This dual threshold action is called hysteresis and implies that the Schmitt trigger possesses memory and can act as a bistable multivibrator. There is a close relation between the two kinds of circuits: a Schmitt trigger can be converted into a latch and a latch can be converted into a Schmitt trigger.
A TRIAC is a three-terminal electronic component that conducts current in either direction when triggered. The term TRIAC is a genericised trademark.
The DIAC is a diode that conducts electrical current only after its breakover voltage, VBO, has been reached momentarily. Three, four, and five layer structures may be used. Behavior is similar to the voltage breakdown of a triac without a gate terminal.
The 555 timer IC is an integrated circuit used in a variety of timer, delay, pulse generation, and oscillator applications. It is one of the most popular timing ICs due to its flexibility and price. Derivatives provide two or four timing circuits in one package. The design was first marketed in 1972 by Signetics and used bipolar junction transistors. Since then, numerous companies have made the original timers and later similar low-power CMOS timers. In 2017, it was said that over a billion 555 timers are produced annually by some estimates, and that the design was "probably the most popular integrated circuit ever made".
In computer engineering, a logic family is one of two related concepts:
A Marx generator is an electrical circuit first described by Erwin Otto Marx in 1924. Its purpose is to generate a high-voltage pulse from a low-voltage DC supply. Marx generators are used in high-energy physics experiments, as well as to simulate the effects of lightning on power-line gear and aviation equipment. A bank of 36 Marx generators is used by Sandia National Laboratories to generate X-rays in their Z Machine.
An electronic component is any basic discrete electronic device or physical entity part of an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singular form and are not to be confused with electrical elements, which are conceptual abstractions representing idealized electronic components and elements. A datasheet for an electronic component is a technical document that provides detailed information about the component's specifications, characteristics, and performance. Discrete circuits are made of individual electronic components that only perform one function each as packaged, which are known as discrete components, although strictly the term discrete component refers to such a component with semiconductor material such as individual transistors.
The Pearson–Anson effect, discovered in 1922 by Stephen Oswald Pearson and Horatio Saint George Anson, is the phenomenon of an oscillating electric voltage produced by a neon bulb connected across a capacitor, when a direct current is applied through a resistor. This circuit, now called the Pearson-Anson oscillator, neon lamp oscillator, or sawtooth oscillator, is one of the simplest types of relaxation oscillator. It generates a sawtooth output waveform. It has been used in low frequency applications such as blinking warning lights, stroboscopes, tone generators in electronic organs and other electronic music circuits, and in time base generators and deflection circuits of early cathode-ray tube oscilloscopes. Since the development of microelectronics, these simple negative resistance oscillators have been superseded in many applications by more flexible semiconductor relaxation oscillators such as the 555 timer IC.
In electronics, a bleeder resistor, bleeder load, leakage resistor, capacitor discharge resistor or safety discharge resistor is a resistor connected in parallel with the output of a high-voltage power supply circuit for the purpose of discharging the electric charge stored in the power supply's filter capacitors when the equipment is turned off, for safety reasons. It eliminates the possibility of a leftover charge causing electric shock if people handle or service the equipment in the off state, believing it is safe. A bleeder resistor is usually a standard resistor rather than a specialized component.
In electrical engineering, a capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy by accumulating electric charges on two closely spaced surfaces that are insulated from each other. The capacitor was originally known as the condenser, a term still encountered in a few compound names, such as the condenser microphone. It is a passive electronic component with two terminals.
A clamper is an electronic circuit that fixes either the positive or the negative peak excursions of a signal to a defined voltage by adding a variable positive or negative DC voltage to it. The clamper does not restrict the peak-to-peak excursion of the signal (clipping); it moves the whole signal up or down so as to place its peaks at the reference level.
Capacitors have many uses in electronic and electrical systems. They are so ubiquitous that it is rare that an electrical product does not include at least one for some purpose. Capacitors allow only AC signals to pass when they are charged blocking DC signals. The main components of filters are capacitors. Capacitors have the ability to connect one circuit segment to another. Capacitors are used by Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) devices to represent binary information as bits.
A comparator is an electronic component that compares two input voltages. Comparators are closely related to operational amplifiers, but a comparator is designed to operate with positive feedback and with its output saturated at one power rail or the other. If necessary, an op-amp can be pressed into service as a poorly performing comparator, but its slew Rate will be impaired.