If you have watched a few of my other videos, you may know that I like building discrete circuits from
time to time. I have gotten a few joke comments saying that I should take it a step further and build
the transistors myself. Well, I thought that doing something like that would be a fun and challenging
project. The process of making semiconductors is a very complicated process though, so we have to take
it in steps and we will have to make many of our own tools. One tool that seems to be universal in
semiconductor manufacturing is some sort of heating tool. That’s what we are doing today, making
a furnace.
A function generator is one of those tools that you will use a lot when making electronic circuits.
And you can find them quite readily online for a whole range of prices, depending on the quality that
you are looking for. This time around though, I wanted to see how feasible it might be to make one
yourself. The challenge for this project will be making it fully analog and out of discrete components.
This chip right here, the DAC8831, is capable of generating voltages with near microvolt precision. All you need
to do is give it a binary number, and you can dial that voltage in. And devices, like this one, are readily avaliable
with multiple different options for resolution, precision, speed, and so on. And that got me thinking, what would it
take to make a DAC yourself. Well as it turns out, it is simultaneously simple and complicated. The idea is somewhat simple,
but the execution isn’t. Before I show you the results, let me show how I did it.
It can be a lot of work designing a circuit. Especially since you have to measure several different points at a time
and you may need to quickly change out components. The quickest way to do this with a real circuit is perhaps with a
breadboard. There is a faster way though, and that is computer simulation. A simulation allows you to quickly fine tune
your circuit, and I’d say that it’s the easiest way to start making a circuit. So stay tuned, and I’ll show you a few
different ways to get started with simulation. Let’s dive in.
STM32 is probably the most popular 32-bit microcontroller out there. And I’d say that it’s definetly a good first step into
32-bit processors. It does, however, have quite a jump in complexity if you’re coming from something like PIC or AVR. Just take
a look at the datasheet, it’s 900 pages long. That’s why I’ve made this video. I want to help you make the jump from 8-bit to
32-bit. So without further ado, let’s dive in!
This is my second attempt at a discrete class D amplifier. And I’m glad to say that it works this time around.
Not only did I greatly decrease the complexity of the design, but I’ve also made it much more stable. I’d say
that its actually somewhat usable. Let me show you how I put it all together.
Sine waves are the most important AC waveform, since they are the basis for all other waves. Unfortunately, a sine wave
isn’t as easy to generate as something like a square wave. Well, in this video I’ll show you a few different ways that
you can generate sine waves for yourself. So without further ado, let’s dive in!
Here is a large 45 watt speaker. And well, the most obvious way to drive it would be with a class D amplifier. Class A and
class B would both be too inefficient. And that’s what this video is about: class D amplifiers. And to give us a better
understanding, we will make it completely discrete, in that we will only use the transistors themselves. So, let’s dive in!
Each of these mini-projects has one thing in common, this little microcontroller: the ATtiny. Now, I’ve made three of
them since they will be given as Christmas gifts, but they are all a little different in their own ways. Anyways, the
point of this video is for you to learn about the ATtiny, but also some more advanced AVR programming topics, namely
sleep mode and flash memory. And as an added bonus, you’ll learn how to make these projects as a whole. So, without
further ado, let’s dive in.
If you take a look at my channel’s videos, you’ll find that nearly everytime a microcontroller comes up, it’s usually an AVR.
And while they are what I am most comfortable with, it’s usually a good thing to learn a new platform. And what better
microcontroller to learn other than AVR’s old rival PIC? And well, PICs are actually a very interesting series of
microcontrollers, so I’ve made this video to teach any newcomers about the basics of PIC programming. Let’s dive in.