G2

Glossary

crystal oscillator An oscillator with a piezoelectric crystal in its

feedback network to maintain a stable frequency of oscillations.
current mirror Circuit consisting of two matching transistors
with the collector of one connected to the bases of both,
thus producing the same collector current in each transistor.
current-limiting circuit Protection circuitry that prevents the
output current from exceeding a maximum value under an
overload or short-circuit condition.
cut-off State of a semiconductor device in which the current is
a minimum.
cut-off frequency See corner frequency

equivalent circuit Combination of elements intended to mimic

the characteristics of an electronic device with mathematical aspects that are simpler than those of the actual device. See also model
extrinsic material Semiconducting material that has had its
conducting properties altered by doping; n-type material
contains extra electrons; p-type material contains extra
holes.
feedback Application of a portion of an amplifiers output to its
input. It is used to improve amplifier performance or to
cause oscillation.
feedback pair Two bipolar junction transistors with the collector of the npn connected the emitter of the pnp and the
collector of the pnp connected the base of the npn.

Darlington pair connection Two bipolar junction transistors

with their collectors connected together and the emitter of
one connected to the base of the other.

FET Field-effect transistor

demodulation Process of extracting a signal that has been impressed on a carrier wave.

filter Part of a power supply that converts the rectified sine

wave from the rectifier into a dc voltage with ripple.

depletion Application of an electric field that repels majority

carriers in a volume of semiconductor material.

foldback limiting Protection circuitry that causes the output

current to decrease to a low value under an overload or
short-circuit condition.

depletion region Region near the junction of a semiconducting

device that has few free carriers because electrons and
holes have combined.
detection See Demodulation
die Another term for chip.
differential amplifier Amplifier in which the output voltage is
proportional to the difference between the voltages applied
to its two input terminals.
digital-to-analog converter (DAC) Circuit that converts a digital signal to an analog signal whose amplitude is proportional to the binary value of the digital signal.
diode Two-terminal device that conducts unidirectionally.
discrete component Package containing only a single electrical
or electronic component.
donor atom Atom with five valence electrons added to a semiconductor to increase the number of electrons in it.
donor level Energy level of the valence band in a semiconductor with doping, which reduces the energy gap between
the valence band and the conduction band.
doping Process of adding small quantities of particular impurities to an intrinsically pure semiconductor in order to alter
its conducting properties.
dropout voltage Minimum value by which the input voltage of
a voltage regulator must exceed the output voltage for regulation to occur.

follower Voltage amplifier whose output follows the input,

and so has a gain of approximately one.
forward-bias Voltage applied to a p-n junction (positive to p,
negative to n) that diminishes the depletion region and increases the flow of majority carriers.
Fourier analysis Mathematical technique for describing a complex waveform as the sum of the harmonics of a fundamental.
free Of electrons, those that are only loosely bound to an atom
or ionthey are able to migrate readily through a material
under the application of small electric fields.
frequency modulation Process of varying the frequency of a
signal such that the instantaneous value of the frequency
is proportional to the amplitude of a control voltage or
signal.
frequency-shift keying Form of frequency modulation in which
the value of a digital signal sets the frequency at one of
two values.
full-wave rectification Converting ac to dc using both halves of
each ac input cycle.
fundamental Lowest frequency component of a waveform.
gain Amplification factor of an amplifier, the ratio of output to
input.

efficacy Measure of the ability of a device to produce a desired

effect.

gain margin Value in decibels of the amplitude of the A factor

of a feedback amplifier at the frequency for which the
phase shift of A is 180.

electroluminescence Emission of light by a device when electrical energy is supplied.

gain-bandwidth product Transistor parameter that indicates the

maximum possible product of gain and bandwidth.

electron volt Energy required to move a charge of one

electron through a potential difference of 1 V; equals
1.602  1019J.

gradient Regular change in a quantity along a given line or dimension; a the rate of change of such quantity.

enhancement Application of an electric field that attracts majority carriers to a volume of semiconductor material.

half-wave rectification Converting ac to dc using only half the

input of each full ac cycle.

half-power frequency See corner frequency