Substrate

A substrate is a material used as the foundation or base for creating a circuit or other electronic component. The substrate material must have certain properties in order to be suitable for circuit fabrication, including high electrical insulation, high mechanical strength, and high thermal conductivity. Common substrate materials include glass, ceramic, and plastic. What is … Read more

Bit slicing

Bit slicing is the process of breaking down a computer instruction into individual bits so that it can be executed by a microprocessor. The advantage of bit slicing is that it allows for more parallelism and therefore higher performance. The downside is that it can be more complex to design and implement. Which one is … Read more

ZIF socket (Zero Insertion Force socket)

A ZIF socket is a type of socket used for microprocessors and other integrated circuits. It is designed to allow easy insertion and removal of the chip without the need for soldering. The socket has a lever which when raised, holds the chip in place and makes contact with the pins on the chip. When … Read more

Intel 80386

The Intel 80386, also known as the i386 or just 386, is a 32-bit microprocessor introduced in 1985. The first versions had 275,000 transistors and were the first Pentium-compatible CPUs. The 32-bit386 can generate both real-mode and protected-mode instructions. Protected mode allows for multitasking, paging and other features that are not available in real mode. … Read more

Voltage reference

A voltage reference is a device that produces a fixed voltage output. Voltage references are used in electronic circuits to provide a known voltage level for other components in the circuit to reference. Voltage references can be used to set the operating voltage of a circuit, to calibrate sensors, or to provide a stable voltage … Read more

Intel 80486

The Intel 80486, also known as the i486 or 486, is a microprocessor that was produced by Intel from 1989 to 1993. It was the successor to the Intel 80386 and was the first microprocessor to use the 32-bit x86 instruction set. The 80486 was introduced in 1989 and was the first Intel chip to … Read more

Quad gate

A quad gate is a digital logic gate that has four inputs and one output. The output of a quad gate is 1 if and only if all four of its inputs are 1. If any of the inputs is 0, the output is 0. Quad gates are used to implement Boolean functions of four … Read more

RAMDAC (random access memory digital-to-analog converter)

A RAMDAC is a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that uses random access memory (RAM) to store digital values. It is used to convert digital signals into analog signals. The RAMDAC is used in computers and other digital devices to convert digital data into an analog signal that can be displayed on a monitor or other display … Read more

Intel

Intel is a company that manufactures microprocessors. These are the central processing units (CPUs) that act as the brains of computers and other devices. Intel also makes other chips that perform specialized functions within those devices. What Intel is known for? Intel is known for making microprocessors. It is the largest maker of microprocessors in … Read more

Monostable circuit

A monostable circuit is an electronic circuit that is triggered by an event and then returns to its original state after a delay. The delay is determined by the RC time constant of the circuit. Monostable circuits are often used to generate short pulses or to debounce switches. How do you make a rising edge … Read more