OK, so I get a press release (pdf) from those wonderful folks at CamSemi, AKA Cambridge Semiconductor. It talks about their C2163 off-line switcher chip (pdf). The press release says: “…the BOM cost ...
We’ve previously remarked upon a generation lucky enough to be well-versed in microcontrollers and computersised electronics through being brought up on the Arduino or the Raspberry Pi but unlucky ...
Immediately, I learned that the common base configuration gain was 6db lower than the common emitter. This blew my mind. Then I started checking input resistance and was shocked at how low it measured ...