Building a power distribution board for an automotive project -- 12V and up to 30A . Needed a preferably high-availability MOSFET (both N and P, can be different manufacturers/product lines) that is the most thermally efficient (low C/W rating) possible.

I want to minimize any passive/active cooling that I would have to provide my board.

If a smaller current rating MOSFET is available, please do share those as well -- I'd stack em up in parallel.

If yall know of any interesting part#'s accordingly, please let me know, thank you!!

Not particularly new and going by the datasheet it isn't particularly exciting but...

The performance data given extends up to 1MHz, but subject to some limitations the part will function at 40MHz, possibly higher. It has a long track record at 27.12MHz. This means that by pairing it with a modest RF FET you can go from CMOS logic to 10+ Watts of RF in practically one stage.

The obvious limitation is gate capacitance, so far the highest I've used it with at that kind of frequency is about 50pF.

The gate resistor appears mandatory in my experience. I normally use 10 ohms, but I haven't had to optimise it so lower values might be preferable.

There is some assymetry between rise and fall times, which means it may shrink or stretch pulses depending on which input is used. YMMV.

The input needs to be a really good square pulse to the extent that it benefits from an extra logic gate to drive the driver. Unlike the discontinued IXRFD630 gate driver it doesn't appear to require a damping resistor on its own input though, possibly because having an input reference terminal gives it some resistance to ground bounce.

https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm5112.pdf

So the intended application is very specific but if you ignore that and transformer-match it to 50 ohms you get a RF amplifier with a gain of at least 37dB, able to produce at least 0.5W and with the option to dial the gain back using its programmable attenuator function.

On the downside it is a bit of a "burner" dissipating 3W in a 5x5mm package. I've just about got one to work on an IC adaptor by soldering a brass post to the bottom of the adaptor and screwing on a heat-sink. Getting an RF IC to work without a PCB is another story but the terminals of the adaptor line up nicely with the terminals of the matching transformers.

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I learned about this chip after discovering that the RP2030 lowest current consumption is around 180-250uA in Deep Sleep mode which is a bummer for such a nice MCU. As a compromise TPL5110 allows for an external timed switch with 20nA consumption when it's in the dormant state.

https://www.ti.com/product/TPL5110

https://www.ti.com/product/OPA4323

This is a fairly ordinary CMOS opamp: supply voltage 1.7V to 5.5V, RRIO, no input crossover, etc. It has higher than normal output drive. The feature that interests me is that it lacks ESD clamp diodes between the inputs and the positive supply. This is an unusual feature; most CMOS opamps have clamp diodes to both supply rails.

Unlike the few other modern opamps that also lack these diodes such as Microchip's MCP6001 (see note), etc. this opamp from TI has abs max ratings that allow the input voltage to be up to +6V [wrt ground] even when the supply voltage is at 0V. The datasheet has an explicit statement that this condition is allowed.

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Note: The MCP6001 datasheet has a statement that even though the clamp diodes are absent, the application circuit should not apply input voltages outside the supply rails. They recommend adding external protection diodes for this.
I've been testing one of these (actually an MCP6002) this year. After about 9 months of having +3.6V on its noninverting input with a supply voltage of zero, the opamp still functions and the parameters that I'm measuring as a proxy for internal damage (input offset voltage, input bias current) are still well within spec.

I purchased one of these sensors on a whim after reading about it on another subreddit. Has anyone found or discovered anything cool/interesting that can be done with this sensor and the accompanying AI studio software?

Seems like the iOS mobile app is still not available.

Not a new one here, but interesting all the same. The first example is a voltage-programmable converter with an output swing of -5V to +5V from a single positive input. The output is also able to source and sink current.

The datasheet gives some other examples including a current source/sink circuit using another amplifier to sense the current.

https://jaycarlson.net/2023/02/04/the-cheapest-flash-microcontroller-you-can-buy-is-actually-an-arm-cortex-m0/

This is actually cheaper than even the recently posted WCH micro and the parts seem like improved variants of STM32F030 series (but not compatible with them). Even better, the parts are available today, in quantity from LCSC:

https://www.lcsc.com/products/Microcontroller-Units-MCUs-MPUs-SOCs_11329.html?keyword=PY32

So much for the arguments that one can't have cheap ARM micros because of the ARM IP licensing costs.

I used this chip for a job to measure liquid-levels. Really cool and works well but it seemed to be a bit complicated to create the FW/SW for it.

https://www.mouser.se/ProductDetail/Acconeer/A111-001-TR?qs=eP2BKZSCXI7cb1tJ4izqfA%3D%3D

Article

• https://www.engadget.com/cherry-is-now-mass-producing-a-classic-after-switch-from-the-80s-095044095.html

CHERRY MX BLACK CLEAR-TOP

• https://www.cherrymx.de/en/cherry-mx/mx-special/mx-black-clear-top.html

CHERRY MX ERGO CLEAR

• https://www.cherrymx.de/en/cherry-mx/mx-special/mx-ergo-clear.html

WCH Launches a Sub-10¢ RISC-V Microcontroller, While a $6.90 Dev Board Gets You Started

• https://www.hackster.io/news/wch-launches-a-sub-10-risc-v-microcontroller-while-a-6-90-dev-board-gets-you-started-90b1ffd7490a

WCH CH32V003 webpage

• https://www.wch.cn/products/CH32V003.html

• same company that makes CH340G (USB to UART) chip