Good Analog Devices Literature

[Christopher_List at Sonymusic.Com]

Hi guys -

I just got something in the mail from Analog Devices (I guess I'm on their
mailing list after ordering data books) - It a 30th anniversary edition of
"Ask the Applications Engineer, Selections from Analog Dialog 1967-1997".
For any of you who did not get this, I would reccomend calling them up, or
sending email and asking for it - it's free after all. Just say you're a
technician for your company and you heard about it and you were wondering
if you could get a copy.

The whole thing is question & answer with great topics, I figured something
like this, published for "real" EE-types would be too technical to be of
much use for me, but it's really well written, easy to follow, and the
topics are all based around the voodoo that starts creeping up when you get
one level past the basics of electronics.

Questions include;
What circuitry should I use for gain and offset trim?
How does a Volt to Frequency converter work?
Why can't I just use a standard op amp in a high-gain or open-loop
configuration as a voltage comparator?
My comparator oscillates uncontrollably. Why?
Why are there so many different types of op amp?
What are differences between different op amp designs?
What should I know about op amp noise?
What difference does source impedence make [to op amp noise]?
Are there any other interesting noise phenomena in high-precision analog
circuits?
Tell me about supply decoupling.
Discussion on why (and how) resistors are not "ideal" components.
PCB layout issues (trace width, ground planes, etc).
Separate AGND and DGND planes.
Confused about amplifier distortion specs?
A whole lot of stuff on DACs, DAC interfacing, using sigma-delta
converters, etc.
*** Several pages on what capacitors to use for what application, and "OK,
so what are the most important paramters describing non-ideal capacitor
behavior?" - YEAH! Short answer; leakage, eqivalent series resistance,
equivilant series inductance, and dielectric absorbtion - they go into
detail on each.

The whole thing is only 52 pages, but it is (as you can tell) bursting with
great tips!

- Just thought you'd all appriciate knowing about it...

web page is;
http://www.analog.com/

- CList