| Specifications | Rarely Asked Questions \Caveat Emptor ! How Do I Make Sense out of a Data Sheet?\ RAQ, RAQs, Rarely Asked Questions, data sheet, Bryant Analog Devices |
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| Specifications | Rarely Asked Questions \Caveat Emptor ! How Do I Make Sense out of a Data Sheet?\ RAQ, RAQs, Rarely Asked Questions, data sheet, Bryant Analog Devices |
| Business section |
| Specifications | Rarely Asked Questions \Caveat Emptor ! How Do I Make Sense out of a Data Sheet?\ RAQ, RAQs, Rarely Asked Questions, data sheet, Bryant Analog Devices |
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| Content | [designnews.com]10.24.05 DESIGN NEWS25 Rarely Asked Questions Strange but true stories from the call logs of Analog Devices SPONSOREDBY RAQ’s SPECIALADVERTISINGSECTION Have a question involving a perplexing or unusual analog problem? Submit your question to: A.With some dif- ficulty. The ostensi- ble purpose of a data sheet is to provide the user and potential user with the fullest pos- sible information about the functions and technical char- acteristics of the device concerned. But the realities practically ensure that there are too many cooks con- cocting these doc- uments, producing spoiled broth indeed. The IC designer who writes the first draft wants to emphasize the genius of his or her creation. The marketing manager wants to stress competitive advantages while soft- peddling any drawbacks. The test engineer wants to minimize the time and cost of pro- duction testing, and tries to remove all maxi- ma and minima from the table of characteris- tics, instead replacing them with “typical” values. Corporation lawyers want to make certain that potential (mis)users of the device have no grounds for suing the Corporation. Corporate communications wants the docu- ment shrunk from 60 pages to four. And applications engineers (ahem!) want the data sheet so clear and simple that even a soft- ware engineer can understand it and they can sleep away their afternoons without the applications enquiry phone ringing. The final product is a “compromise”, and not always as helpful as it could be. And because data sheets are always produced in a hurry when the product is ready for release they always have some mistakes. What’s an engineer to do? First, know which specifications are most important to your application. If you don’t know, consult design guides or screw up your courage and ask someone. Second, conduct parametric search- es among manufac- turers to find candi- date devices. Third, despite your misgiv- ings, read the d***ed data sheets. (I really did once have some- one call to ask how many pins there are on an 8 lead mini-DIP.) When reading data sheets, at the very least watch out for: • “Vdd Vss” or, better “|Vss| Vdd” These are subtle ways of saying that if you supply the negative supply before the positive, the device will destroy itself. • Specifications which appear similar on two data sheets but are not—such as small- signal bandwidth versus full-power band- width, or settling time to 1 lsb (12-bits) ver- sus settling time to 1 percent. • “Typical” versus maximum and minimum specifications. The meaning of maximum and minimum is clear and well-understood. The meaning of typical is open to many interpretations. The “compromises” involved in meeting a data sheet’s conflicting requirements mean that much more can be learned from a data sheet than simply the overt facts and specifi- cations. The website below analyzes these things in considerable detail. It would be a wonderful thing if the industry could agree on a standardized format for data sheets and they all told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. But I’m not holding my breath until it happens. Caveat emptor! To learn more about how to read data sheets, Go to: http://rbi.ims.ca/5696-103 Q.How do I make sense out of a data sheet? raq@reedbusiness.com Contributing Writer James Bryant has been a European Applications Manager with Analog Devices since 1982. He holds a degree in Physics and Philosophy from the University of Leeds. He is also C.Eng., Eur.Eng., MIEE, and an FBIS. In addition to his passion for engi- neering, James is a radio ham and holds the call sign G4CLF. Caveat Emptor! DNX051024RAQ.qxd 10/5/2005 3:46 PM Page 25 |
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| Following Datasheets | RAQ_chips_1 (1 pages) RAQ_clockingEdges_1 (1 pages) RAQ_comparatorsOpAmp_1 (1 pages) RAQ_converterFront-end_1 (1 pages) RAQ_crosstalkin_converters (1 pages) RAQ_datasheets (1 pages) RAQ_DC_Parameters_1 (1 pages) RAQ_dieTemperature_1 (1 pages) RAQ_diffAmps-1 (1 pages) RAQ_diodes_1 (1 pages) |
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