Roland Andrag wrote:
>
> >Sorry about my lag of analogic electronics, but what is a Schottky Diode ?
>
> Also called a 'hot-carrier' diode. Basically it has a very low forward drop
> voltage - say around .25 V instead of the normal silicon 0.6 to 0.7 V.  A
> very good book is The art of electronics, by Horowitz and Hill, if you plan
> to learn anything but basic electronics, especially analogue. It contains
> just as much digital electronics knowledge, but no PICs. Still a must have.
>
> Cheers
> Roland

  They're a little more expensive than 1N4148's et al, they're great
where you want to drive a circuit off a Parallel Port, or anywhere else
that those diode drops add up too fast and you need them not to.
They're also pretty fast diodes, so protection networks are great when
done with Schottky's.

  The forward voltage drop does come up to more like 0.4V at higher
currents, still about 1/2-1/3 the drop can mean your circuit works
without a "Wall Wart".

  Mark