Okay, I'm building a serial link cable for my TI calculator and the plans call for two zener diodes. What exactly is a zener diode? Is that just a regular diode, because I have some diodes, and if ...

The Zener diode is similar to a general-purpose signal diode which consists of a silicon PN junction. It is a special kind of diode in which current is allowed to flow in the forward direction in the ...

For the longest time, Zener diode regulators have been one of those circuits that have been widely shared and highly misunderstood. First timers have tried to use it to power up their experiments and ...

Nowadays some first-rate voltage references are available. Take the LM385 for example: this is available for different voltages and even comes in an adjustable version. What is more, the current ...

It isn’t unusual to expect a precisely regulated voltage in an electronic project, but what about times when you need a precise current? Over on EDN, prolific [Stephen Woodward] explains how to use a ...

There are times when you need to bias a low-current load and simply didn’t want to add another voltage regulator, or where you need a reasonable level of voltage accuracy, so a simple voltage divider ...