We have all had difficulty testing diodes in-circuit. Most DMM’s have a diode Vf function that measures forward drop, but what is the normal voltage drop? Analog VOM’s attempt to measure resistance of ...

To measure a zener diode’s breakdown voltage, you need a dc voltage source whose voltage exceeds that of the zener voltage. In Figure 1, resistor R SER provides voltage drop between V IN and V ZEN. In ...

In the first part of this series, we took a look at a “toy” negative-differential-resistance circuit made from two ordinary transistors. Although this circuit allows experimentation with ...

Transistors are the fundamental building blocks behind today's electronic revolution, powering everything from smartphones to powerful servers by controlling the flow of electrical currents. But ...

The diode is a fundamental component you must understand if you want to grow your electronics prowess. So today, we’re going to take a quick look at what a diode is, then look at 4½ uses for a diode ...

Let's start with DC voltage, one of the simplest and most-used multimeter measurements. The DC voltage measurement is used to determine the difference in electrical potential between two points in a ...

Humans are walking high voltage generators, due to all the friction with our surroundings, wide variety of synthetic clothes, and the overall ever-present static charges. Our electronics are sensitive ...

If you are using infrared (IR) hardware in an IoT, embedded, or mobile hardware project and are currently experiencing difficulties debugging IR communications, using one of the circuits shown below ...