CIRCUITS AND

6.002 ELECTRONICS

Capacitors
and First-Order Systems

Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu/), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Downloaded on [DD Month YYYY].

6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12

 Motivation
Demo 5V 5V

B C
A
5V
0V

5
A
0
5
Expect this, right?
B But observe this!
0
5 Expected
C Observed
0
Reading:
Delay! Chapters 9 & 10
Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu/), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Downloaded on [DD Month YYYY].

6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12

 The Capacitor
D
G n-channel MOSFET
symbol
S

drain
n s
m+ o i
gate e+ x l n-channel
t + p
i i MOSFET
a+ d
l + e n-channel c
+ o
n n
source

D
G

S
CGS
Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu/), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Downloaded on [DD Month YYYY].

6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12

 Ideal Linear Capacitor

+ + A d
++++
EA
- - C=
E ----- d
obeys DMD!
total charge on
capacitor
= +q − q = 0
i
q +
C v
–

q = C v

coulombs farads volts

Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu/), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Downloaded on [DD Month YYYY].

6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12

 Ideal Linear Capacitor

i
q +
C v
–
q = C v

dq
i=
dt
d (Cv )
=
dt
dv
=C
dt

⎡ E = 1 Cv 2 ⎤
⎢⎣ 2 ⎥⎦

A capacitor is an energy storage device

Æ memory device Æ history matters!
Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
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6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12

 Analyzing an RC circuit

Thévenin Equivalent:
+
R C vC (t )
vI (t ) +
– –

Apply node method:

vC − vI dvC
+C =0
R dt
dvC t ≥ t0
RC + vC = vI
dt vC (t0 ) given

units
of time
Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
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6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12

 Let’s do an example:

+
R C vC (t )
v I (t ) +
–
–

vI (t ) = VI
vC (0 ) = V0 given
dvC
RC + vC = VI X
dt

Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
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6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12

 Example…
vI (t ) = VI
vC (0 ) = V0 given
dvC
RC + vC = VI X
dt
vC (t ) = vCH (t ) + vCP (t )
total homogeneous particular

Method of homogeneous and particular

solutions:
1 Find the particular solution.
2 Find the homogeneous solution.
3 The total solution is the sum of
the particular and homogeneous
solutions.
Use the initial conditions to solve
for the remaining constants.
Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
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6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12

 1 Particular solution
dvCP
RC + vCP = VI
dt
vCP = VI works

dVI
RC + VI = VI
dt
0

In general, use trial and error.

vCP : any solution that satisfies the

original equation X

Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
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6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12

 2 Homogeneous solution
dvCH
RC + vCH = 0 Y
dt
vCH : solution to the homogeneous
equation Y
(set drive to zero)
vCH = A e st assume solution
of this form. A, s?
dA e st
RC + A e st = 0
dt
R CA s e st + A e st = 0

Discard trivial A = 0 solution,

R C s +1 = 0 Characteristic equation
1
s= −
RC
−t RC
or vCH = Ae RC
called time
constant τ
Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
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6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12

 3 Total solution
vC = vCP + vCH
−t
vC = VI + A e RC

Find remaining unknown from initial

conditions:
Given, vC = V0 at t = 0

so, V0 = VI + A
or A = V0 − VI
−t
thus vC = VI + (V0 − VI ) e RC

also
dvC (V − VI ) −t
iC = C =− 0 e RC
dt R

Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
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6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12

 −t
vC = VI + (V0 − VI ) e RC

vC
VI

V0

t
0
RC

Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
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6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12

 Examples
vC vC

5V 5V
−t −t

5 + 5e RC 5e RC

0V t 0V t
VO = 0V 5 VO = 5V 5
VI = 5V 0 VI = 0V 0

τ = RC

Remember
B
demo

Cite as: Anant Agarwal and Jeffrey Lang, course materials for 6.002 Circuits and Electronics, Spring 2007. MIT
OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu/), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Downloaded on [DD Month YYYY].

6.002 Fall 2000 Lecture 12