Description
Semiconductor devices and integrated circuits (ICs) are the backbone of modern technology, and thus the study of electronics—which deals with their characteristics and applications—is an integral part of the undergraduate curriculum for students majoring in electrical, electronics, or computer engineering. Traditionally, the basic course in electronics has been a one-year (two-semester) course at most universities and colleges. However, with the emergence of new technologies and university-wide general education requirements, electrical engineering departments are under pressure to reduce basic electronics to a onesemester course. This book can be used for a one-semester course as well as a two-semester course. The only prerequisite is a course in basic circuit analysis. A one-semester course would cover Chapters 1 through 8, in which the basic techniques for analyzing electronic circuits are introduced using ICs as examples. In a two-semester course, the second semester would focus on detailed analysis of devices and circuits within the ICs and their applications.
The objectives of this book are:
– To develop an understanding of the characteristics of semiconductor devices and commonly used ICs
– To develop skills in analysis and design of both analog and digital circuits
– To introduce students to the various elements of the engineering design process, including formulation of specifications, analysis of alternative solutions, synthesis, decision-making, iterations, consideration of cost factors, simulation, and tolerance issues
Approach
This book adopts a top-down approach to the study of electronics, rather than the traditional bottom-up approach. In the classical bottom-up approach, the characteristics of semiconductor devices and ICs are studied first, and then the applications of ICs are introduced. Such an approach generally requires a year of instruction, as it is necessary to cover all the essential materials in order to give students an overall knowledge of electronic circuits and systems. In the top-down approach used here, the ideal characteristics of IC packages are introduced to establish the design and analytical techniques, and then the characteristics and operation of devices and circuits within the ICs are studied to understand the imperfections and limitations of IC packages. This approach has the advantage of allowing the instructor to cover only the basic techniques and circuits in the first semester, without going into detail on discrete devices. If the curriculum allows, the course can continue in the second semester with detailed analysis of discrete devices and their applications.
In practice, the lectures and laboratory experiments run concurrently. If students’ experimental results differ from the ideal characteristics because of the practical limitations of IC packages, students may become concerned. This concern may be addressed by a brief explanation of the causes of discrepancies. The experimental results, however, will not differ significantly from the theoretically obtained results.
Current ABET (Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology) criteria and other engineering criteria under the Washington Accord (http://www.washingtonaccord.org/) require the integration of design and computer usage throughout the curriculum. After students have satisfied other ABET and accreditation requirements in math, basic science, engineering science, general education electives, and free electives, they find that not many courses are available to satisfy the design requirements. The lack of opportunities for design credits in engineering curricula is a common concern. Electronics is generally the first electrical engineering course well suited to the integration of design components and computer usage. This book is structured to permit design content to constitute at least 50% of the course, and it integrates computer usage through PSpice. Many design examples use PSpice to verify the design requirements, and the numerous computer-aided design examples illustrate the usefulness of personal computers as design tools, especially in cases in which design variables are subjected to component tolerances and variations.
New to This Edition
The second edition offers a reorganized order of chapters with the required material augmented and the nonessential topics abridged. The key changes to this edition are summarized below:
– All new chapter on MOSFETs and amplifiers
– All new chapter on semiconductors and pn junctions
– Fully revised chapter on BJTs
– More emphasis on MOSFETs and active biasing techniques to allow students to move easily on to differential amplifiers and ICs
– Extensive revision of power amplifiers to include MOSFET circuits with class C, D, and E amplifiers
– Integrated PSpice/OrCAD examples for both analysis and design verifications
– Developed Mathcad files for calculations of worked-out examples so that students can try similar problems and explore the effects of design parameters