The TL431 is a three-terminal programmable shunt regulator that implements Zener-like references with low temperature ... nor from a third pole introduced from an external capacitor in series with the ...

(Although we think he really made it for the fun of making it.) The circuit is centered around a TL431 programmable shunt regulator, which is an awesome and underrated chip in its own right.

Developed as a three-terminal shunt regulator, the popular and multiple-sourced TL431 IC offers designers many intriguing possibilities beyond its intended application. Internally, the TL431 comprises ...

[Ken] may well be right about the TL431. Even Texas Instruments can’t nail down a single name for it. Their page for the part calls it a “Adjustable Precision Shunt Regulator”, yet the ...