3 ms·
Yep, the horseshoe inductor is a degenerate (single-loop) case of the spiral inductor.
by sparky 14y ago
Yep, the horseshoe inductor is a degenerate (single-loop) case of the spiral inductor.
- Osiris 14y agoThanks! That clears things right up (</sarcasm> I have no idea what at least three of those things are).
- sparky 14y agoSorry, wasn't trying to be obtuse, just concise. * An inductor is a primitive circuit element, like a resistor or capacitor. An ideal inductor maintains the relationship V = L x dI/dt, where V is the voltage across the 2 terminals of the inductor, I is the current through the inductor, and L is the inductance. * The simplest inductor is a coil of wire. You've probably seen ones that look like this ( http://www.electronicplus.com/images/products/387268.jpg http://www.electronicplus.com/images/products/387268.jpg ) on motherboards, power supplies, etc. Inductors are used in power supplies all the time, but also in clocking-related circuits, filters, and other components used in RF devices like the chip referenced in the article. * In the context of a planar CMOS chip, you can't really build a 3D torus like that, so you build a 2D spiral that approximates a coil ( http://bmf.ece.queensu.ca/mediawiki/index.php/Spiral_Inductor_Design http://bmf.ece.queensu.ca/mediawiki/index.php/Spiral_Inducto... ). That's called a spiral inductor. * The horseshoe inductor is just a spiral inductor that only has one loop, and is consequently shaped like a horseshoe. Designers vary the size, spacing, number, and geometry of loops depending on the inductance, parasitic resistance/capacitance, material properties, etc.