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  • A strange quantum effect could power future electronics
    Rice University physicists confirmed that flat electronic bands in kagome superconductors aren’t just theoretical, they actively shape superconductivity and magnetism. This breakthrough could guide the design of next-generation quantum materials and technologies.
  • Room-temperature quantum breakthrough freezes motion without cooling
    ETH Zurich scientists have levitated a tower of three nano glass spheres using optical tweezers, suppressing almost all classical motion to observe quantum zero-point fluctuations with unprecedented precision. Achieving 92% quantum purity at room temperature, a feat usually requiring near absolute zero, they have opened the door to advanced quantum sensors without costly cooling.
  • Tiny gold “super atoms” could spark a quantum revolution
    Scientists have found that microscopic gold clusters can act like the world’s most accurate quantum systems, while being far easier to scale up. With tunable spin properties and mass production potential, they could transform quantum computing and sensing.
  • Scientists unveil bioplastic that degrades at room temperature, and outperforms petroplastics
    Plastic pollution is a mounting global issue, but scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have taken a bold step forward by creating a new bioplastic inspired by the structure of leaves. Their innovation, LEAFF, enhances strength, functionality, and biodegradability by utilizing cellulose nanofibers, outperforming even traditional plastics. It degrades at room temperature, can be […]
  • Building electronics that don’t die: Columbia's breakthrough at CERN
    Deep beneath the Swiss-French border, the Large Hadron Collider unleashes staggering amounts of energy and radiation—enough to fry most electronics. Enter a team of Columbia engineers, who built ultra-rugged, radiation-resistant chips that now play a pivotal role in capturing data from subatomic particle collisions. These custom-designed ADCs not only survive the hostile environment inside CERN […]
  • Digital twins are reinventing clean energy — but there’s a catch
    Researchers are exploring AI-powered digital twins as a game-changing tool to accelerate the clean energy transition. These digital models simulate and optimize real-world energy systems like wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, and biomass. But while they hold immense promise for improving efficiency and sustainability, the technology is still riddled with challenges—from environmental variability and degraded equipment […]

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Photo of a metal rotary encoder with a cylindrical shaft and green base, set against a light gray background. The background includes faint technical graphics: a gear diagram, binary code, square-wave patterns labeled CLK and DT, and a push-button symbol.
Getting Started with Rotary Encoders
This rotary encoder guide explains how these devices translate shaft movement into digital signals. It covers encoder types, wiring, decoding, and debouncing techniques so you...
Featured image of analog layout design rules
Analog layout design rules
Matching transistor layouts is crucial for minimizing electrical variations, especially in analog and mixed-signal circuits like differential amplifiers. Proper design ensures symmetry, precision, and low...
Featured image of the operational transconductance amplifier
How to design an Operational Transconductance Amplifier (OTA)?
This article explains how to design an Operational Transconductance Amplifier (OTA) in Cadence, focusing on optimizing transistor dimensions. It covers hand calculations and the gm/ID...

Prerequisits

To make it easier, I assume you have a basic knowledge of the following:

  • Basic circuitry knowledge; such as resistors, transistors, diodes, relays.
  • Basic programming knowledge in C; understand what are functions, operators, data types, and more.
  • Digital electronics, such as logic gates.

On some occasions I will explain it from scratch, but to understand everything, it is best to brush up on the basics so that you can follow the tutorials.

Required Software

For these tutorials we use Microchip’s own software package that includes:

  • MPLAB X IDE
  • XC8 Compiler
  • PICKIT3 programmer/debugger

All the tools can be downloaded at the official website of Microchip Technology

Required Hardware

The full tutorial consists of many different types of electrical components, sensors and actuators. It depends completely on your own project what you need. However, in all cases you will need a Pickit3 tool to install the software and you need at least 1 PIC16F877A microcontroller to install it on.