ELECTRONICS

DEFINE ELECTRONICS

WHAT IS ELECTRONICS ?
• The branch of physics and technology concerned with the design of circuits using
transistors and microchips, and with the behavior and movement of electrons in
a semiconductor, conductor, vacuum, or gas.

•  The branch of science that deals with the study of flow and control of electrons
(electricity) and the study of their behavior and effects in vacuums, gases, and
semiconductors, and with devices using such electrons.
• The main difference between electrical and
electronics circuits is that electrical circuits have no decision
making (processing) capability, while electronic circuits do.
 Evolution of electronics

Diode vacuum tube was the first electronic component invented by J.A. Fleming.
Later, Lee De Forest developed the triode, a three element vacuum tube capable of
voltage amplification.

In 1947, Bell laboratories developed the first transistor based on the research of
Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain.

In 1959, Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments developed the first integrated circuit.
 Resistance

• When there is current through a material, the free electrons move through the material
and occasionally collide with atoms. These collisions cause the electrons to lose some of
their energy, thus restricting their movement. The more collisions, the more the flow of
electrons is restricted. This restriction varies and is determined by the type of
material. The property of a material to restrict or oppose the flow of electrons is called
resistance, R.
• Resistance is expressed in ohms, symbolized by the Greek letter omega (Ω).

• One ohm (11 Ω

Ω) of resistance exists if there is one ampere (11 A
A) of current in a material
when one volt (11 V
V) is applied across the material
• The resistance of any material with a uniform cross-sectional area is determined by
the following four factors:
1. Material

2. Length

3. Cross-sectional area

4. Temperature

• At a fixed temperature, the resistance is related to the other three factors by

R = ρl / A

• where ρ is resistivity, l is length and A is area of crossection.

• Conductance The reciprocal of resistance is conductance, symbolized by G.

It is a measure of the ease with which current is established.

• The unit of conductance is the siemens, abbreviated S. The obsolete unit of

mho (ohm spelled backwards) was previously used for conductance

 Types of Resistors
• Resistors are made in many forms, but all belong in either of two groups:
• fixed
• Wire wound resistor
• Carbon composition resistor
• Carbon film resistors
• Metal oxide resistors
• Metal film resistors
• variable resistor
• Carbon composition variable resistors
• Conductive plastic variable resistors
• Surface Mount Resistors
• https://www.electricaltechnology.org/2015/01/resistor-types-resistors-fixed-
variable-linear-non-linear.html
How to draw?
 Power rating of a resistor
• The relative sizes of all fixed and variable resistors change with the wattage
(power) rating, increasing in size for increased wattage ratings in order to
withstand the higher currents and dissipation losses.
 Capacitors
• A capacitor is a passive electrical component that stores electrical charge and
has the property of capacitance.
• Capacitors are capable of storing charges.
• They are used for coupling ac signals from one circuit to another and for
frequency selection etc.
• A basic capacitor consists of 2 metallic plates separated by a dielectric
•
 Types of capacitors
• Capacitors normally are classified according to the type of dielectric
material and whether they are polarized or nonpolarized.

• The most common types of dielectric materials are

o mica
o ceramic
o plastic-fIlm
o electrolytic (aluminum oxide and tantalum oxide).
 Mica Capacitors
• Mica Capacitors Two types of mica capacitors are stacked-foil and silver-mica.
• It consists of alternate layers of metal foil and thin sheets of mica. The metal foil
forms the plate, with alternate foil sheets connected together to increase the
plate area. More layers are used to increase the plate area, thus increasing the
capacitance
• Mica capacitors are available with capacitance values ranging from 1 pF to 0.1 µF
and voltage ratings from 100 V dc to 2500 V dc
 Ceramic Capacitors
• Ceramic dielectrics provide very high dielectric constants (1200 is typical). As a
result, comparatively high capacitance values can be achieved in a small physical size.
Ceramic capacitors are commonly available in a ceramic disk form and in a multilayer
radial-lead configuration or in a leadless ceramic chip for surface mounting on
printed circuit boards.
 Plastic-Film Capacitors
• A thin strip of plastic-film dielectric is sandwiched between two thin metal strips that act as
plates. One lead is connected to the inner plate and one is connected to the outer plate
• The strips are then rolled in a spiral configuration and encapsulated in a molded case. Thus, a large
plate area can be packaged in a relatively small physical size, thereby achieving large capacitance
values
• Common dielectric materials used in plastic-film capacitors include polycarbonate, propylene,
polyester, polystyrene, polypropylene, and Mylar
• capacitance values up to 100 µF but most are less than 1 µF.
 Electrolytic Capacitors
• Electrolytic capacitors are polarized so that one plate is positive and the other
negative.
• These capacitors are used for capacitance values from I µF up to over 200,000 µF,
but they have relatively low breakdown voltages (350 V is a typical maximum) and
high amounts of leakage.
• voltage ratings are typically lower.
• Aluminium electrolytes are probably
the most commonly used type
 Inductor
• An inductor is a passive electrical component formed by a wire wound around a core and
which exhibits the property of inductance.
• When a length of wire is formed into a coil, it becomes an inductor.
• When there is current through an inductor, an electromagnetic field is established.
• A changing current produces a changing electromagnetic field around the inductor
• In turn, the changing electromagnetic field causes an induced voltage across the coil in a
direction to oppose the change in current.
• This property is called self-inductance (but is usually referred to as inductance),
symbolized by L.
• Inductance is a measure of a coil's ability to establish an induced voltage as a
result of a change in its current, and that induced voltage is in a direction to
oppose the change in current.

• The Unit of Inductance - henry (H)

• The inductance of a coil is one henry when current through the coil, changing at
the rate of one ampere per second, induces one volt across the coil.

• The henry is a large unit, so in practical applications, millihenries (mH) and

microhenries (,µH) are the more common units.
•
• Bobbin based inductor:   This type of inductor is wound on a cylindrical bobbin.

• Toroidal inductor: This form of inductor is wound on a toroid - a circular former.

• Ferrite is often used as the former as this increases the permeability of the core. The
advantage of a toroid is that the toroid enables the magnetic flux to travel in a circle around
the toroid and as a result the flux leakage is very low.
• The disadvantage with a toroidal inductor is that it requires a special winding machine is
required to perform the manufacture as the wire has to be passed thought the toroid for each
turn required
 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Semiconductors
• This classification is related to the purity of the semiconductors.

• Intrinsic or pure semiconductors are those that are ideal, with no defects, and no
external impurities.

• At absolute zero it is essentially an insulator

• At any finite temperature there are some charge

carriers are thermally excited, contributing to

conductivity.
• Extrinsic semiconductors have some impurities added to modify the concentration
of charge carriers and hence the conductivity.
• An extrinsic semiconductor is formed by adding
impurities, called dopants to an intrinsic
semiconductor to modify the former's
electrical properties.
•
If we add a pentavalent atom (As, P etc.) as an impurity, the dopant atom replaces
a silicon atom substitutionally. As the dopant has five electrons, only four of these
can be used in forming covalent bonds while the fifth electron is loosely bonded to
the parent atom. This electron can become detached from the dopant atom by
absorbing thermal energy
 PN-junction Diode
• A PN-junction is formed when an N-type material is fused together with a P-type
material creating a semiconductor diode

• A p-n junction diode is two-terminal or two-electrode semiconductor device, which

allows the electric current in only one direction while blocks the electric current in
opposite or reverse direction.

• If the diode is forward biased, it allows the electric current flow. On the other
hand, if the diode is reverse biased, it blocks the electric current flow.

•  P-N junction semiconductor diode is also called as p-n junction semiconductor

device.
• The p-n junction diode is made from the semiconductor materials such as silicon,
germanium and gallium arsenide.

• For designing the diodes, silicon is more preferred over germanium.

• The p-n junction diodes made from silicon semiconductors works at higher
temperature when compared with the p-n junction diodes made from germanium
semiconductors.
 Biasing of p-n junction semiconductor diode
• The process of applying the external voltage to a p-n junction semiconductor
diode is called biasing. External voltage to the p-n junction diode is applied in any
of the two methods: forward biasing or reverse biasing.
• When a PN junction diode is forward biased, the anode is positive with resect to the
cathode.
• When reverse biased the cathode is positive with respect to the anode.

• The process by which a depletion region at the p-n junction is destroyed and allows a
large reverse current is called depletion region breakdown.
 Silicon and Germanium Semiconductor Diodes
• For designing the diodes, silicon is more preferred over germanium. 
• The p-n junction diodes made from silicon semiconductors works at high temperature than
the germanium semiconductor diodes. 
• Forward bias voltage for silicon semiconductor diode is approximately 0.7 volts whereas for
germanium semiconductor diode is approximately 0.3 volts. 
• Silicon semiconductor diodes start allowing the current flow, if the voltage applied on the
diode reaches 0.7 volts. 
• Germanium semiconductor diodes start allowing the current flow, if the voltage applied on
the germanium diode reaches 0.3 volts. 
• The cost of silicon semiconductors is low when compared with the germanium semiconductors.
VI characteristics of PN Junction Diode
• The Zener breakdown takes place in heavily doped diodes.

• If reverse voltage is applied on the narrow depletion p-n junction diode, the
immobile ions in the depletion region gains energy from the external voltage.
Hence, the electric field of the immobile ions increases. As a result, the overall
electric field of the narrow depletion region increases. 

• A large number of minority carriers are generated in the depletion region.

• At this point, a small increase in reverse voltage causes sudden rise in reverse
current.
• The charge carrier of the PN-junction diode absorbs heat from the
environment at normal room temperature. When the reverse biased
applied across the junction, the kinetic energy of the electrons increases
and they starts moving at high velocity. While moving, they collide with
the other atoms and creates the number of free electrons which causes
the reverse saturation current. Because of this saturation current, the
AVALANCHE BREAKDOWN mechanism occurs in the diode.
• One of the major difference between the Avalanche and the Zener breakdown is
that the Avalanche breakdown occurs because of the collision of the electrons due to
increased velocity, whereas the Zener breakdown occurs because of the high electric
field.
CB Configuration
CE Configuration
CC Configuration
 Additional information
• Introduction to Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VwPSDQmdjM
• Common Base CB Configuration
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMD4KECE-7I
• Common Emitter Configuration 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KynKHr2cXgk
• Common Collector Configuration
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwWj3bqnuDk
• Common Emitter Amplifier | Why Phase Shift between input & output ?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAl1wSGyGho
• Transistor as Amplifier & Switch
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RPmlhynHoY
• Relation between current amplification factors - alpha and beta
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AgynmNJ6xQ
 Why the current flows opposite to the direction of flow of electrons?

The concept of electricity was established before the discovery of electrons. So, it was
believed that the passage of current is due to the flow of positive charges. This is what
we call the conventional flow of current, i.e. in the direction of flow of positive charges.
After the discovery of electrons, it was observed that the electron are the particles that
flow in a conductor. Electrons being negatively charged flow from the negative terminal to
the positive terminal of the voltage source. So, the actual direction of current should be
from negative to positive terminal. However, the conventional direction had already been
established firmly in scientific fraternity. So, the current flow is considered in the
direction opposite to the direction of flow of electrons.