I am trying to use voltage comparator MAX9691 in my design. Basically the input signal is sinusoidal with peak of 200mV. So, I want to wire up this comparator in order to detect the pulse when it exceeds 20mV. The IC is 8-pins and very simple but I don't know how to set the reference voltage or the threshold voltage in this IC correctly.
There are no built in references so you would have to set it externally with a resistor divider.
This comparator expects 50 Ohm terminations since it exceptionally fast with +5/-5.2V.
Alternatively, you can use +/-20mV hysteresis to square up the sine wave. But if you want to PEAK detect the presence of a signal > 20mV then you need a peak detector cct. then a comparator cct.
But I am still confused about something. In the datasheet there is circuit example (Figure 1. Regenerative Feedback—High-Speed Receiver with 50Ω Input and Output Termination). This example has VT = -2V. Is VT here the Threshold voltage ? and if yes does it mean if I can manage to do voltage divider as you mentioned with 20mV and connected to VT. The comparator should detect the pulse when it reaches 20mV