Basic Electronic CircuitsVoltage
A battery / generator has + and - posts. Electrons
flow through a circuit from the - post to the + post.
The potential difference between the two posts is V,
voltage. V is the push of electrons.
The higher the voltage, the higher the push. (Figures 1
and 2}Current
The current (I) is the charge passing through a
given cross section of wire per unit time:
1=A Q/At=charge/ time
Consider a hose versus a fire hydrant.
The direction of a current is in the direction of
positive charge motion. Since only electrons
(the negative charge) move within metal, the
direction of current is opposite the flow of
electrons.
For example
o House current
o Typical CPU
o Lightning strikeResistance
All systems experience resistance (R).
Ohm's Law: V=I*R = where R = Ohms (Q)
orR=V/I
As temperatures increase in metal, resistance
increases. In semiconductors, resistance generally
decreases. (Figures 3 and 4)Watt
* The measure of electric work and power is the watt.
+ Power= V*l
+ Acurrent of 0.50 A flows through a 200 ohm resistor.
How much power is lost in the resistor? (Expression 1)AC and DC
* All above examples are direct current (DC). The
push of electrons is always in one direction.
+ AC - alternating current: The push of electrons is first
from one direction and then from the opposite
direction, over and over. (Figure 5).
Two ways to control
power
1. Control the amount of power put into the
circuit (harder to do)
2. Control the power at some point other
than at the source (more common). (Figure 6)
Then we can switch it on or off, or
regulate/vary the resistance.
Circuits are made of hundreds / thousands /
... of points that need switching and
regulating. What device does this?
A vacuum tube? Yes, but something betterTransistor
* The transistor is made of either germanium or silicon
and has three distinct sections (Figure 7)
+ The NPN transistor can act as a variable resistor or
as a switch (conduct current, throttle it partially, or
block it entirely).Consider the following
circuit
= +
IK
Emitter (N)
Base (P) a
Collector (N)
Microphone Speaker
Figure 8
Base P blocks flow from emitter to collector.
Need to add a wire from base so electrons have some place to flow.More appropriate figure
1h
1
Speaker
Microphone
Figure 9Basic logic gates
+ How were relays used to create basic logic gates?
(Figures 11 and 12)
+ How are transistors used to create basic logic
gates? (Figures 13 and 14)Equivalent Transistors
Figure 4-17
Increases in
transistor
density for
Intel
microprocessors
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005Figure 4-18 >
A memory chip
containing
330 million
transistors
Courtesy of Intel CorporationConsider the numbers
1GB flash drive
2° bits (about 1 billion)
Each bit requires 2 transistors
About 2 billion transistorsFuture Trends
* Semiconductors are approaching fundamental
physical size limits
+ Technologies that may improve performance
beyond semiconductor limitations
9 Optical processing
o Hybrid oplicalelectical processiigOptical Processing
Could eliminate interconnection and simplify
fabrication problems; photon pathways can cross
without interfering with one another
Eliminating wires would improve fabrication cost
and reliability
Not enough economic incentive to be a reality yetElectro-Optical Processing
* Devices provide interface between semiconductor
and purely optical memory and storage devices
6 Gallium arsenide (both aptical and electrical properties)
a Silicor-bosed semiconductor devices (encode dota in extemallly
generated loser light)Inductor
An inductor is basically a coil of wire. While it looks
simple, it has some interesting properties (Figure 15)
If you remove the inductor from the circuit, this is just
a flashlight.
What happens when you insert the inductor into the
circuit?Inductor
When you close the switch, the bulb burns brightly
and then gets dimmer.
When you open the switch, the bulb burns brightly,
then quickly goes out.
Why?.
Inductor
The wire in the coil (inductor) has less
resistance than the light bulb. But the coil
wants to build up a magnetic field. While
the field is building, the coil inhibits the flow
of current. Once the field is built, the current
can flow normally through the coil.
When the switch is opened, the magnetic
field around the coil keeps current flowing in
the coil until the field collapses. This keeps
the bulb lit for a short period of time after
the switch is open.Inductor
When you close the switch, the bulb burns brightly
and then gets dimmer.
When you open the switch, the bulb burns brightly,
then quickly goes out.
Why?.
Inductor
The wire in the coil (inductor) has less
resistance than the light bulb. But the coil
wants to build up a magnetic field. While
the field is building, the coil inhibits the flow
of current. Once the field is built, the current
can flow normally through the coil.
When the switch is opened, the magnetic
field around the coil keeps current flowing in
the coil until the field collapses. This keeps
the bulb lit for a short period of time after
the switch is open.Inductor
* The capacity of an inductor is controlled by four
factors:
oa number of turns of wire
0 material the coils are wrapped oround
9 cross-sectional area of the coil
0 length of the coilInductor
* Putting iron in the core of an inductor gives it
much more inductance than air would.
* The standard unit of inductance is the henry:
H=(4*pi*NumTurns?*AreaOfCoil*m) /
(LengthOfCoil * 10,000,000)
where m=permeability of core (air=2;
steel=2000)
* Common application area: traffic signalsCapacitor
A capacitor is a little like a battery. It holds
a charge, but only for a brief moment.
A capacitor has two metal plates separated
by a dielectric (such as air, paper, plastic, or
anything else that does not conduct
electricity).
What happens when you connect a
capacitor to a battery? (Figure 16)Capacitor
Once the capacitor is charged, it has the same
voltage as the battery.
Let's hook up a capacitor, a battery, a bulb, anda
switch in the following fashion: (Figure 17).
Capacitor
When the switch closes, the light bulb lights
up as current flows from the battery to the
capacitor and the capacitor charges up.
The bulb gets progressively dimmer and
finally goes out once the capacitor reaches
it full charge.
When you open the switch, the light bulb
brightens momentarily and then dims and
goes out. The capacitor is now discharged..
°
Capacitor
The farad is the unit of capacitance.
A farad is one coulomb (6.25e 18
electrons) of charge at 1 volt. That is a
lot of charge!
Most capacitors are rated in
microfarads.
Common capacitor applications include
storing charges for high speed use, such
as In a flash of a camera.
Capacitors can also smooth (eliminate)
ripples in current.
A ote can block DC voltage and
let AC voltage through.Diode
A diode is a simple device that allows electrons to
flow in one direction only (Figure 18)
Diodes can be used to make sure current flows in
one direction only, so if you put your batteries in
backwards, it does not ruin your electronic device.
Diodes can also be used to smooth out AC voltages
(Figure 19)Serial vs parallel circuits
Circuits can be either serial or parallel.
Serial circuits: Figures 20 and 21
For example, resistors in series add directly
Parallel circuits: Figure 22
Resistors in parallel: add their reciprocals and take
reciprocal of total.
Magnetic Fields and
Wires
Oersted discovered that currents in wires
produce magnetic fields.
Right-hand rule: Grasp wire with thumb
pointing in direction of current. Fingers point
in direction of magnetic field.
Furthermore, a changing magnetic field
passing through a wire will induce a current
in that wire.
Crosstalk.
Memristor?
Concept introduced in a paper in 1971; first
memnistor created in lab April 30, 2008
First basic element since resistor, capacitor
and inductor
Very small; can hold a 1 or 0 with or without
power
Can be fashioned into non-volatile solid
state memory
100 gigabits in a square centimeter at one
tenth the soeed of DRAMBasic Electronic Circuits