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OEMs across power electronics applications are demanding increased efficiency and power density for power electronics components, while also insisting on solid reliability and device miniaturization. To enable this, wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) are being adopted across the power electronics market. These WBG power semiconductors support higher-voltage operation and new power architectures across data centers, electric vehicles (EVs) and renewables...

Wolfspeed Inc of Durham, NC, USA — which makes silicon carbide (SiC) materials and power semiconductor devices — has appointed Yasuhisa Harita as regional president for Asia Pacific, effective 1 June. He will be based in Tokyo and lead Wolfspeed’s commercial strategy across Japan, Korea and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region, with responsibility for driving revenue growth, enhancing strategic customer relationships, and executing the company’s regional commercial and operational objectives...

Deepak Shankar, founder of Mirabilis Design and developer of VisualSim Architect platform for chip and system designs, has created this cartoon for electronics design engineers.

The post The system architect’s sketchbook: GenZLens built in a dorm appeared first on EDN.

У КПІ відбувся традиційний турнір з волейболу імені Михайла Павловського kpi ср, 04/22/2026 - 17:02

Конференція «Чорнобильська катастрофа: медичні, екологічні та соціальні наслідки через 40 років» kpi ср, 04/22/2026 - 16:50

Аспірант КПІ на Міжнародному конкурсі з фізики kpi ср, 04/22/2026 - 16:44

Happy workbench Wednesday! I’ve been itching to post this since last Thursday haha. I’m Abacus of FooseyRhode and I specialize in repair of a specific type of computer part called an ASIC Hashboard, and those PCBs are what this setup is built around servicing. Honorable mentions at my desk that might catch some curiosity The Overhead Cable Trays. The rail mounted, Digital Microscope. The Heatgun Glory Hole. Soldering Iron suspended by pulleys. The Quad-table-top fans (Fan Deck). 1 and 2.) The overhead cable trays are super helpful for the obvious, but also for storing some accessories out of the way. My primary heatgun for example. With it up there, wrist strain from the heavy heatgun gun hose is practically eliminated. I also mounted my PC and digital microscope up there. Microscope benefits because table vibrations are gone, and computer is just there for cable management. 3.) See image 3. Looks crazy but it’s very necessary for my work. The PCB I work on are typically single layer PCB secured to a giant aluminum plate. A lone heatgun is not capable of achieving solder flow, and hot plates are extremely impractical for PCB like this. Thus, I apply heat from above, and below. Getting the damn thing mounted safely was the hardest part. I used a pneumatic vesa monitor mount, but backwards. I hammered the vesa mount into shape and secured it to a desk beam. Then I secured the opposite end of the mount to the heatgun. 4.) The pulleys just keep the soldering iron cable out of my way. Honestly, I’m just resolving a minor inconvenience for myself with this. 5.) My 3D printed Fan Deck! It’s four 120mm fans powered through a potentiometer so I can control the speed. It’s used primarily when I am diagnosing a board. The boards I work on use around 40-90 amps when operating, but for diagnostic, require only 10-20 amps to test properly. Point being, they heat up very rapidly, and heat affects my diagnostic. The Fan Deck is a means to cool boards down while simultaneously injecting power into them. submitted by /u/FooseyRhode [link] [comments]

CVD Equipment Corp (CVDE) of Central Islip, NY, USA (a designer and maker of chemical vapor deposition, thermal processing, physical vapor transport, gas and chemical delivery control systems, and other equipment and process solutions for developing and manufacturing materials and coatings) has announced the successful growth of single-crystal silicon carbide (SiC) boules grown on CVDE physical vapor transport (PVT) systems and characterized by Stony Brook University (SBU) in support of their new ‘onsemi Research Center for Wide Bandgap Materials’...

Simple math implemented in a (very) simple circuit. What’s not to like?

A very cool (also warm!) property of the base-emitter junction of (most) small signal BJTs is the ΔVbe temperature-sensing effect.  ΔVbe temperature measurement is aptly described and applied here by famed and forever remembered analog design guru Jim Williams (see page 7):

At room temperature, the Vbe junction diode shifts 59.16mV per decade of current. The temperature dependence of this constant is 0.33%/°C, or 198μV/°C. This ΔVbe versus current relationship holds, regardless of the Vbe diode’s absolute value.

Wow the engineering world with your unique design: Design Ideas Submission Guide

Rearranging Williams’ math, since 198uV=1V/5050, 198μV/°C per current decade works out to (the easier to remember…ha!) ΔVbe/°C = Log10(Current-ratio)/5050.  So, if we need any given ΔVbe/°C, the required

Current-ratio = 10^(5050 ΔVbe/°C).

For example, for ΔVbe/°C = 100uV, Current-ratio = 10^(5050 * 100uV) = 10^(0.5050) = 3.20

Of course, this trick also works for Fahrenheit, albeit with a different scale factor.  Since 1 °F = 5/9 of 1°C, for Fahrenheit the corresponding Current-ratio = 10^(9090 ΔVbe/°F).  Therefore, for the 100uV example, if ΔVbe/°F = 100uV, then Current-ratio = 10^(9090 * 100uV) = 10^(0.9090) = 8.11

Figure 1 shows this simple math implemented in a (very) simple circuit:

Figure 1 An ordinary BJT Q1 makes an accurate absolute temperature sensor in two different units (K and R).

Here’s how it works. Switch U1a applies alternating current ratio drive to sensor Q1 per Williams’ method.  The ratio is (approximately) Current-ratio = (1/R1 + 1/R2)/(1/R2) = (R2/R1 + 1) = 3.20 for measurement in units of Celsius (Kelvin) and = 8.11 for Fahrenheit (Rankine).  The “approximately” thing comes in because the resistor ratio needed to be fudged (slightly) to compensate for the few 10s of mV of varying difference between V+ and Q1’s Vbe and thus make the current ratios accurately equal to the calculated values.

The resulting 100uVpp per degree AC signal is synchronously rectified by U1b and filtered by C3 to become the 100uV per degree of absolute temperature DC output signal suitable for direct input to a DMM.  A ~5kHz clock signal for current switching and rectification is provided by U1c, with a little help from one side of U1a.

Note that, per Williams’ analysis of the ΔVbe effect, accuracy of temperature measurement relies only on the accuracy of the current ratio and therefore on only the precision of R1 and R2.  No other reference is required or relevant and any 2N3904 will do. 

The V+ supply, for example, can vary from 3 to 6 volts without affecting accuracy.  Passive output impedance is roughly 10k.  So, loading by a typical 10M DMM input won’t either.

Thanks, Jim!

Stephen Woodward‘s relationship with EDN’s DI column goes back quite a long way. Over 200 submissions have been accepted since his first contribution back in 1974.  They have included best Design Idea of the year in 1974 and 2001.

Related Content 

• Temperature compensation with a simple resistance temperature detector
• A temperature-compensated, calibration-free anti-log amplifier
• Thermopile sensors: A guide to non-contact temperature measurement

The post BJT is accurate sensor for absolute temperature in Kelvin and Rankine appeared first on EDN.

And wrote a blog post about it https://atomicsandwich.com/blog/breathing_apparatus submitted by /u/RonnieRehab [link] [comments]

Germany-based Bosch Group has started to introduce third-generation silicon carbide (SiC) chips and is supplying samples to global automakers...

Germany-based Bosch Group has started to introduce third-generation silicon carbide (SiC) chips and is supplying samples to global automakers...

Квест "Святкуємо число Пі" в ДПМ Інформація КП ср, 04/22/2026 - 11:50

Dr Karen Dowling of the Microelectronics Department in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science at TU Delft (Delft Univrsity of Technology) has been awarded an NWO Open Competition ENW-XS grant for her research on materials that can be used in space exploration at extreme temperatures. Specifically, she will investigate the thermoelectric properties of gallium nitride by modelling, fabricating and testing it at temperatures ranging from 500K to 4K...

Dr Karen Dowling of the Microelectronics Department in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science at TU Delft (Delft Univrsity of Technology) has been awarded an NWO Open Competition ENW-XS grant for her research on materials that can be used in space exploration at extreme temperatures. Specifically, she will investigate the thermoelectric properties of gallium nitride by modelling, fabricating and testing it at temperatures ranging from 500K to 4K...

Here is how design engineers can implement over-the-air (OTA) firmware updates for a microcontroller using the “staging + copy” method. The microcontroller—NXP’s RW612 in this design case study—relies on external serial flash. The article highlights the use of NXP’s ROM-resident FlexSPI API to safely erase and program the flash without bricking the device.

Figure 1 RW612 is a wireless microcontroller with an Arm Cortex-M33 application core. Source: NXP

The OTA process involves downloading the new firmware into a secondary staging partition, verifying, and then copying it to the active partition upon reboot. The article also points to a practical, production-ready example for developers.

For a practical application of OTA implementation, check the complete video tutorial that explains how to implement a remote firmware update. In this video, we use the NXP FRDM-RW612 development board with Mongoose Wizard, but the same method applies to virtually any other NXP microcontroller.

OTA firmware update

If you are looking for a practical OTA firmware update example, this article shows a simple “staging + copy” method on the NXP RW612 microcontroller using external FlexSPI flash. It matches what the FRDM-RW612 board setup looks like in real life, and it points to the exact Mongoose source file (ota_rw612.c) that implements the flow.

Figure 2 The FRDM-RW612 development board is designed for rapid prototyping with the RW61x family of wireless microcontrollers. Source: NXP

OTA firmware updates let you ship fixes and features without asking users to plug in a debugger. On Wi-Fi MCUs, such as NXP RW612, OTA is also one of the first things you want because it unlocks faster iteration during development.

There is no single “correct” OTA design. Different products pick different strategies depending on flash size, how paranoid you are about power loss, and how strict your security requirements are. Here are a few common patterns you will see in the wild:

• In-place update (single slot): Download the new firmware and overwrite the currently running image. This uses the least flash, but it has the highest risk; if power is lost while you erase or program, you may brick the device unless a bootloader can recover.
• Staging + copy: Download the new image into a staging area (an “inactive” region), verify it, and then copy it over the active firmware region. This is a very common and practical method because the device keeps running the old firmware while the download happens, and you only switch after you have a complete, verified image.
• A/B (dual slot): Split flash into two full firmware slots and select which one to boot. It’s viable when you can afford the space, because rollback can be as simple as flipping a flag. It does, however, require enough flash for two complete images plus metadata.
• Delta updates: Download only the binary diff from the old version to the new version and reconstruct on the device. Great for saving bandwidth, but the tooling and edge cases can get complicated fast.

In this article, we focus on the staging + copy approach because it’s easy to reason about, does not require two complete bootable slots, and maps nicely onto RW612 designs with external serial flash.

A minimal staging + copy flow looks like this:

1. Reserve a staging region in external flash plus a tiny metadata area.
2. While running the current firmware, download the new firmware into the staging region.
3. Verify the staged image (signature and/or CRC, size checks, and version rules).
4. Reboot into a small bootloader or early-boot update routine.
5. Copy the staged image over the active firmware region, update metadata, and then boot the new firmware.

Here is a practical note: the easiest way to create a staging area is to split the external flash into two partitions. You keep the active firmware in the first partition and use the second partition as the staging area for the download. After verification, you copy from the second partition back into the active region during reboot.

If power is lost during the download, you still have the old firmware. If power is lost during the final copy, a well-designed bootloader can retry the copy or fall back to a known-good image (depending on your layout and policy). Either way, the goal is the same: avoid bricking devices.

External flash and FlexSPI ROM API

A key RW612 detail that influences OTA design: RW612 does not have built-in internal flash for your application image. Instead, designs typically use external serial NOR flash connected over FlexSPI. The FRDM-RW612 development board, for example, includes external serial flash (Winbond) on the board. That means your OTA code ultimately needs to erase and program external NOR flash.

The nice part is that NXP provides a ROM-resident API that can operate that flash through FlexSPI. In the MCUXpresso SDK documentation, you will see this described as the ROM API driver for external NOR flash connected to the FlexSPI controller, with support for initialize, program, and erase operations.

Why a ROM API matters: when you update flash, you want the programming logic to be as reliable as possible. ROM-resident routines are not stored in external flash, so they can still run safely while you are erasing and programming the external device.

Here are references for RW612 and FlexSPI ROM API (MCUXpresso SDK):

• RW612 datasheet (notes off-chip XIP flash and FlexSPI interface)

https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/RW612.pdf

• FRDM-RW612 board user manual (mentions external serial flash on the board)

https://www.mouser.com/pdfDocs/NXP_FRDM-RW612_UM.pdf

• MCUXpresso SDK ROMAPI driver reference (external NOR over FlexSPI)

https://mcuxpresso.nxp.com/api_doc/dev/2349/a00044.html

• MCUXpresso SDK romapi examples index

https://mcuxpresso.nxp.com/mcuxsdk/25.03.00/html/examples/driver_examples/romapi/index.html

• MCUXpresso SDK romapi_flexspi example readme

https://mcuxpresso.nxp.com/mcuxsdk/25.03.00/html/examples/driver_examples/romapi/flexspi/readme.html

• MCUXpresso SDK fsl_romapi example readme

https://mcuxpresso.nxp.com/mcuxsdk/latest/html/examples/driver_examples/fsl_romapi/readme.html

Practical layout tip for RW612 OTA: treat the external flash as your update playground. Reserve space for the active firmware, a staging region, and a small metadata area that records the update state. Keep the metadata redundant (two copies, versioned records, or a simple log) so you can survive an interrupted write.

Mongoose OTA example

If you want something you can build and run quickly, Mongoose includes a working RW612 OTA implementation that demonstrates the staging + copy method on the FRDM-RW612 board. The walkthrough video is at the beginning of this article and the implementation lives in https://github.com/cesanta/mongoose/blob/master/src/ota_rw612.c.

At high level, the Mongoose RW612 OTA example does three jobs:

1. Receive the new firmware image over the network

The transport can be HTTP, HTTPS, or whatever your product uses. In a typical Mongoose setup, you stream the incoming bytes straight to the staging region in external flash, so you don’t need a giant RAM buffer.

2. Write the new image into the staging region using the FlexSPI ROM API

The OTA code erases the destination region (sector erase) and programs data (page program) as the download progresses. This is the part that is RW612-specific: you use the ROM API FlexSPI routines to safely erase and program the external serial NOR flash.

3. Copy staged firmware to the active region and switch over

After the image is fully written and verified, you reboot. Early in boot, the update routine copies the staged image to the active firmware region using the same FlexSPI ROM API. Finally, metadata is updated, so the device knows the update is complete and the new firmware boots.

Below are a few practical details that are worth copying into your own RW612 OTA design:

• Stream to flash

Do not buffer the whole image in RAM. Erase in sector-sized chunks and program in page-sized chunks as data arrives.

• Verify before you copy

At minimum, store and check a CRC of the downloaded image. For production, verify a signature and enforce anti-rollback rules if needed.

• Make the update state robust

Store update metadata in a small, dedicated region (for example, “no update”, “downloaded”, “copy in progress”, and “done”). Consider writing metadata as an append-only record or keep two copies and alternate between them so you can recover from a power cut during the metadata update.

• Handle power loss during the final copy

A common trick is to mark “copy in progress” before you start copying; then if the device reboots unexpectedly, the boot code can resume the copy from where it left off or restart it safely. Another trick is to copy in fixed chunks and persist progress.

If you just want to see it working, start with the demo video, then open ota_rw612.c and trace the flow: where the image bytes land in external flash (staging), how the ROM API based erase and program calls are made, and how the staged image is copied over the active region during reboot.

That’s how RW612 OTA is done in a way that is simple, resilient, and easy to productize.

Sergey Lyubka is director at Cesanta Software.

Related Content

• OTA Software Updates: Where Are We?
• Memory solutions for firmware OTA updates
• Addressing the challenge of automotive OTA update
• OTA: A Core Technology for Software-Defined Vehicles
• The role of phase-change memory in automotive OTA firmware upgrades

The post How to implement OTA firmware update on MCUs appeared first on EDN.

submitted by /u/antthatisverycool [link] [comments]

КПІшники отримали «зелений енергетичний Оскар» kpi вт, 04/21/2026 - 23:02

Quinas Technology Ltd of London, UK (which was spun off from Lancaster University in early 2023, and is developing ULTRARAM non-volatile memory technology) has announced a milestone in its R&D program, confirming the use of atomic layer etching (ALE) to fabricate and refine its quantum-engineered device structures at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Core Labs (a system of multi-disciplinary and interconnected research laboratories)...

This little project is the mainboard for a noise activated roller-blind and the circuit incorporates 31 through-hole components and 20 SMD components. Now time to begin testing! PS: Please excuse the soldering submitted by /u/hjw5774 [link] [comments]