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Datasheets provide the details about various products from discrete MOSFETs to motors. These have been static, printed pages and downloadable PDFs for ages, but more companies like Nexperia are turning the web into a source of interactive tools that provide real-time feedback about these products. Instead of a fixed set of “typical” parameters and multiple charts, a developer can stop by the website and use interactive controls to provide the desired settings (Fig. 1).
The results are immediately available in the form of updated table, chart, and graphs that provide more information than a static datasheet could ever deliver (Fig. 2). Engineers can gain immediate insight into how different product parameters are interrelated without needing to solve complex equations, perform manual graph interpolation, or spend significant amounts of time learning and interacting with circuit simulation software.
Often a static datasheet will include all of the details a designer may need. However, they're often in a form that's not easily utilized. For example, there may be response equations, different limits based on parameters such as voltage or temperature. Furthermore, the meaning of the listed parameters is rarely explained in the datasheets, making it difficult for engineers. And datasheets don’t always state the conditions under which minimum and maximum values were arrived at for a parameter (usually including some safety margin).
The interactive datasheet tool also lets designers visualize the interdependence of several parameters simultaneously and quickly determine how a device performs at a desired operating point. The accuracy of these novel datasheets promise to reduce the need for complex calculations and manual interpolation significantly.
Nexperia recently released electrothermal models on which the interactive results are based. Interactive datasheets are already available for more than 200 of the company's products and the list will continue to expand.