Used in a variety of timer, pulse generation, and oscillator applications, the 555 was designed in 1971 by Hans Camenzind. A favorite for many engineers, the 555 is still in widespread use due to its ...

Most switch-mode power supplies rely on a PWM (pulse-width-modulated) output that is controlled via voltage feedback. A 555-timer IC can inexpensively perform PWM. The circuit in Figure 1 shows how to ...

You can use a microcontroller to build a clock. After all, a clock is just something that counts the passage of time. The only problem is that microcontrollers can’t track time very accurately. They ...