Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to

design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other electrically charged particles.
Electronics is a subfield of electrical engineering, but it differs from it in that it focuses on using active
devices such as transistors, diodes, and integrated circuits to control and amplify the flow of electric
current and to convert it from one form to another, such as from alternating current (AC) to direct
current (DC) or from analog to digital. Electronics also encompasses the fields of microelectronics,
nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, and quantum electronics, which deal with the fabrication and
application of electronic devices at microscopic, nanoscopic, optical, and quantum scales.

Electronics have a profound impact on various aspects of modern society and culture, such as
communication, entertainment, education, health care, industry, and security. The main driving force
behind the advancement of electronics is the semiconductor industry, which produces the basic
materials and components for electronic devices and circuits. The semiconductor industry is one of the
largest and most profitable sectors in the global economy, with annual revenues exceeding $481 billion
in 2018. The electronics industry also encompasses other sectors that rely on electronic devices and
systems, such as e-commerce, which generated over $29 trillion in online sales in 2017.

History and development[edit]

See also: History of electronic engineering and Timeline of electrical and electronic engineering

One of the earliest Audion radio receivers, constructed by De Forest in 1914

Electronics has hugely influenced the development of modern society. The identification of the electron
in 1897, along with the subsequent invention of the vacuum tube which could amplify and rectify small
electrical signals, inaugurated the field of electronics and the electron age.[1] Practical applications
started with the invention of the diode by Ambrose Fleming and the triode by Lee De Forest in the early
1900s, which made the detection of small electrical voltages such as radio signals from a radio antenna
possible with a non-mechanical device.

Vacuum tubes (thermionic valves) were the first active electronic components which controlled current
flow by influencing the flow of individual electrons,[2] They were responsible for the electronics
revolution of the first half of the twentieth century,[3][4] They enabled the construction of equipment
that used current amplification and rectification to give us radio, television, radar, long-distance
telephony and much more. The early growth of electronics was rapid, and by the 1920s, commercial
radio broadcasting and communications were becoming widespread and electronic amplifiers were
being used in such diverse applications as long-distance telephony and the music recording industry.

The next big technological step took several decades to appear, when the first working point-contact
transistor was invented by John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain at Bell Labs in 1947.[5] However,
vacuum tubes played a leading role in the field of microwave and high power transmission as well as
television receivers until the middle of the 1980s.[6] Since then, solid-state devices have all but
completely taken over. Vacuum tubes are still used in some specialist applications such as high power RF
amplifiers, cathode ray tubes, specialist audio equipment, guitar amplifiers and some microwave
devices.

In April 1955, the IBM 608 was the first IBM product to use transistor circuits without any vacuum tubes
and is believed to be the first all-transistorized calculator to be manufactured for the commercial
market.[7][8] The 608 contained more than 3,000 germanium transistors. Thomas J. Watson Jr. ordered
all future IBM products to use transistors in their design. From that time on transistors were almost
exclusively used for computer logic and peripherals. However, early junction transistors were relatively
bulky devices that were difficult to manufacture on a mass-production basis, which limited them to a
number of specialised applications.[9]

The MOSFET (MOS transistor) was invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in
1959.[10][11][12][13] The MOSFET was the first truly compact transistor that could be miniaturised and
mass-produced for a wide range of uses.[9] Its advantages include high scalability,[14] affordability,[15]
low power consumption, and high density.[16] It revolutionized the electronics industry,[17][18]
becoming the most widely used electronic device in the world.[12][19] The MOSFET is the basic element
in most modern electronic equipment.[20][21]

As the complexity of circuits grew, problems arose.[22] One problem was the size of the circuit. A
complex circuit like a computer was dependent on speed. If the components were large, the wires
interconnecting them must be long. The electric signals took time to go through the circuit, thus slowing
the computer.[22] The invention of the integrated circuit by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce solved this
problem by making all the components and the chip out of the same block (monolith) of semiconductor
material. The circuits could be made smaller, and the manufacturing process could be automated. This
led to the idea of integrating all components on a single-crystal silicon wafer, which led to small-scale
integration (SSI) in the early 1960s, and then medium-scale integration (MSI) in the late 1960s, followed
by VLSI. In 2008, billion-transistor processors became commercially available.[23]

Subfields[edit]

Analog electronics

Audio electronics

Bioelectronics

Circuit design

Digital electronics
Embedded systems

Integrated circuits

Microelectronics

Nanoelectronics

Optoelectronics

Power electronics

Semiconductor devices

Telecommunications

Devices and components[edit]

Main article: Electronic component

Various electronic components

An electronic component is any component in an electronic system either active or passive. Components
are connected together, usually by being soldered to a printed circuit board (PCB), to create an electronic
circuit with a particular function. Components may be packaged singly, or in more complex groups as
integrated circuits. Passive electronic components are capacitors, inductors, resistors, whilst active
components are such as semiconductor devices; transistors and thyristors, which control current flow at
electron level.[24]

Types of circuits[edit]

Electronic circuit functions can be divided into two function groups: analog and digital. A particular
device may consist of circuitry that has either or a mix of the two types. Analog circuits are becoming
less common, as many of their functions are being digitized.

Analog circuits[edit]

Main article: Analog electronics

Most analog electronic appliances, such as radio receivers, are constructed from combinations of a few
types of basic circuits. Analog circuits use a continuous range of voltage or current as opposed to
discrete levels as in digital circuits.

The number of different analog circuits so far devised is huge, especially because a 'circuit' can be
defined as anything from a single component, to systems containing thousands of components.
Analog circuits are sometimes called linear circuits although many non-linear effects are used in analog
circuits such as mixers, modulators, etc. Good examples of analog circuits include vacuum tube and
transistor amplifiers, operational amplifiers and oscillators.

One rarely finds modern circuits that are entirely analog – these days analog circuitry may use digital or
even microprocessor techniques to improve performance. This type of circuit is usually called "mixed
signal" rather than analog or digital.

Sometimes it may be difficult to differentiate between analog and digital circuits as they have elements
of both linear and non-linear operation. An example is the comparator which takes in a continuous range
of voltage but only outputs one of two levels as in a digital circuit. Similarly, an overdriven transistor
amplifier can take on the characteristics of a controlled switch having essentially two levels of output. In
fact, many digital circuits are actually implemented as variations of analog circuits similar to this example
– after all, all aspects of the real physical world are essentially analog, so digital effects are only realized
by constraining analog behaviour.

Digital circuits[edit]

Main article: Digital electronics

Digital circuits are electric circuits based on a number of discrete voltage levels. Digital circuits are the
most common physical representation of Boolean algebra and are the basis of all digital computers. To
most engineers, the terms "digital circuit", "digital system" and "logic" are interchangeable in the context
of digital circuits. Most digital circuits use a binary system with two voltage levels labelled "0" and "1".
Often logic "0" will be a lower voltage and referred to as "Low" while logic "1" is referred to as "High".
However, some systems use the reverse definition ("0" is "High") or are current based. Quite often the
logic designer may reverse these definitions from one circuit to the next as they see fit to facilitate their
design. The definition of the levels as "0" or "1" is arbitrary.[25]

Ternary (with three states) logic has been studied, and some prototype computers made. Mass-
produced binary systems have caused lower significance for using ternary logic.[26] Computers,
electronic clocks, and programmable logic controllers (used to control industrial processes) are
constructed of digital circuits. Digital signal processors, which measure, filter or compress continuous
real-world analog signals, are another example. Transistors such as MOSFET are used to control binary
states.

Logic gates

Adders
Flip-flops

Counters

Registers

Multiplexers

Schmitt triggers

Highly integrated devices:

Memory chip

Microprocessors

Microcontrollers

Application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)

Digital signal processor (DSP)

Field-programmable gate array (FPGA)

Field-programmable analog array (FPAA)

System on chip (SOC)

Design[edit]

Electronic systems design deals with the multi-disciplinary design issues of complex electronic devices
and systems, such as mobile phones and computers. The subject covers a broad spectrum, from the
design and development of an electronic system (new product development) to assuring its proper
function, service life and disposal.[27] Electronic systems design is therefore the process of defining and
developing complex electronic devices to satisfy specified requirements of the user.

Due to the complex nature of electronics theory, laboratory experimentation is an important part of the
development of electronic devices. These experiments are used to test or verify the engineer's design
and detect errors. Historically, electronics labs have consisted of electronics devices and equipment
located in a physical space, although in more recent years the trend has been towards electronics lab
simulation software, such as CircuitLogix, Multisim, and PSpice.

Computer-aided design[edit]

Main article: Electronic design automation

Today's electronics engineers have the ability to design circuits using premanufactured building blocks
such as power supplies, semiconductors (i.e. semiconductor devices, such as transistors), and integrated
circuits. Electronic design automation software programs include schematic capture programs and
printed circuit board design programs. Popular names in the EDA software world are NI Multisim,
Cadence (ORCAD), EAGLE PCB[28] and Schematic, Mentor (PADS PCB and LOGIC Schematic), Altium
(Protel), LabCentre Electronics (Proteus), gEDA, KiCad and many others.

Negative qualities[edit]

Thermal management[edit]

Main article: Thermal management of electronic devices and systems

Heat generated by electronic circuitry must be dissipated to prevent immediate failure and improve long
term reliability. Heat dissipation is mostly achieved by passive conduction/convection. Means to achieve
greater dissipation include heat sinks and fans for air cooling, and other forms of computer cooling such
as water cooling. These techniques use convection, conduction, and radiation of heat energy.

Noise[edit]

Main article: Electronic noise

Electronic noise is defined[29] as unwanted disturbances superposed on a useful signal that tend to
obscure its information content. Noise is not the same as signal distortion caused by a circuit. Noise is
associated with all electronic circuits. Noise may be electromagnetically or thermally generated, which
can be decreased by lowering the operating temperature of the circuit. Other types of noise, such as
shot noise cannot be removed as they are due to limitations in physical properties.

Packaging methods[edit]

Main article: Electronic packaging

Many different methods of connecting components have been used over the years. For instance, early
electronics often used point to point wiring with components attached to wooden breadboards to
construct circuits. Cordwood construction and wire wrap were other methods used. Most modern day
electronics now use printed circuit boards made of materials such as FR4, or the cheaper (and less hard-
wearing) Synthetic Resin Bonded Paper (SRBP, also known as Paxoline/Paxolin (trade marks) and FR2) –
characterised by its brown colour. Health and environmental concerns associated with electronics
assembly have gained increased attention in recent years, especially for products destined to go to
European markets.

Through-hole devices mounted on the circuit board of a mid-1980s home computer. Axial-lead devices
are at upper left, while blue radial-lead capacitors are at upper right.
Electrical components are generally mounted in the following ways:

Through-hole (sometimes referred to as 'Pin-Through-Hole')

Surface mount

Chassis mount[clarification needed]

Rack mount

LGA/BGA/PGA socket

Industry[edit]

Main article: Electronics industry

Further information: Consumer electronics, List of best-selling electronic devices, and Semiconductor
industry

The electronics industry consists of various sectors. The central driving force behind the entire
electronics industry is the semiconductor industry sector,[30] which has annual sales of over $481 billion
as of 2018.[31] The largest industry sector is e-commerce, which generated over $29 trillion in 2017.[32]
The most widely manufactured electronic device is the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor
(MOSFET), with an estimated 13 sextillion MOSFETs having been manufactured between 1960 and
2018.[33] In the 1960s, U.S. manufacturers were unable to compete with Japanese companies such as
Sony and Hitachi who could produce high-quality goods at lower prices. By the 1980s, however, U.S.
manufacturers became the world leaders in semiconductor development and assembly.[34]

However, during the 1990s and subsequently, the industry shifted overwhelmingly to East Asia (a process
begun with the initial movement of microchip mass-production there in the 1970s), as plentiful, cheap
labor, and increasing technological sophistication, became widely available there.[35][36]

Over three decades, the United States' global share of semiconductor manufacturing capacity fell, from
37% in 1990, to 12% in 2022.[36] America's pre-eminent semiconductor manufacturer, Intel Corporation,
fell far behind its subcontractor Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in
manufacturing technology.[35]

By that time, Taiwan had become the world's leading source of advanced semiconductors[36][35]—
followed by South Korea, the United States, Japan, Singapore, and China.[36][35]

Important semiconductor industry facilities (which often are subsidiaries of a leading producer based
elsewhere) also exist in Europe (notably the Netherlands), Southeast Asia, South America, and Israel.[35]
See also[edit]

icon Electronics portal

Index of electronics articles

Outline of electronics

Atomtronics

Audio engineering

Avionics

Biodegradable electronics

Broadcast engineering

Computer engineering

Electronics engineering

Electronics engineering technology

Fuzzy electronics

Marine electronics

Photonics

Robotics

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