Lecture 1

Introduction to Electronics

This material is adapted from Chapter 1

“Microelectronic Circuit Design” by
Richard C. Jaeger, Travis N. Blalock
McGraw Hill

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 Goals

• Explore the history of electronics.

• Impact of integrated circuit technologies.
• Describe classification of electronic signals.
• Review circuit notation and theory.

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 The Start of the Modern Electronics Era

Bardeen, Shockley, and Brattain at The first germanium bipolar

Bell Labs - Brattain and Bardeen transistor. Roughly 50 years later,
invented the bipolar transistor in 1947. electronics account for 10% (4 trillion
dollars) of the world GDP.

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 Electronics Milestones
1874 Braun invents the solid-state 1958 Integrated circuit developed by
rectifier. Kilby and Noyce
1906 DeForest invents triode vacuum 1961 First commercial IC from Fairchild
tube. Semiconductor
1907-1927 1963 IEEE formed from merger or IRE
First radio circuits de-veloped from and AIEE
diodes and triodes. 1968 First commercial IC opamp
1925 Lilienfeld field-effect device patent 1970 One transistor DRAM cell invented
filed. by Dennard at IBM.
1947 Bardeen and Brattain at Bell 1971 4004 Intel microprocessor
Laboratories invent bipolar introduced.
transistors. 1978 First commercial 1-kilobit memory.
1952 Commercial bipolar transistor 1974 8080 microprocessor introduced.
production at Texas Instruments.
1984 Megabit memory chip introduced.
1956 Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley
2000 Alferov, Kilby, and Kromer share
receive Nobel prize. Nobel prize

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 Evolution of Electronic Devices

Vacuum Discrete
Tubes Transistors

SSI and MSI VLSI

Integrated Surface-Mount
Circuits Circuits

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 Microelectronics Proliferation

• The integrated circuit was invented in 1958.

• World transistor production has more than doubled every
year for the past twenty years.
• Every year, more transistors are produced than in all
previous years combined.
• Approximately 109 transistors were produced in a recent
year.
• Roughly 50 transistors for every ant in the world .

*Source: Gordon Moore’s Plenary address at the 2003 International Solid

State Circuits Conference.

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Device Feature Size

• Feature size reductions

enabled by process
innovations.
• Smaller features lead to
more transistors per unit
area and therefore higher
density.

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 Rapid Increase in Density of
Microelectronics

Memory chip density Microprocessor complexity

versus time. versus time.

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Signal Types
• Analog signals take on
continuous values -
typically current or
voltage.
• Digital signals appear at
discrete levels. Usually
we use binary signals
which utilize only two
levels.
• One level is referred to as
logical 1 and logical 0 is
assigned to the other level.

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 Analog and Digital Signals

• Analog signals are • After digitization, the

continuous in time and continuous analog signal
voltage or current. becomes a set of discrete
(Charge can also be used values, typically separated
as a signal conveyor.) by fixed time intervals.

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 Digital-to-Analog (D/A) Conversion

• For an n-bit D/A converter, the output voltage is expressed

as: 1 2 n
VO  (b1 2  b2 2  ... bn 2 )VFS
• The smallest possible voltage change is known as the least
significant bit or LSB.
VLSB  2n VFS

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 Analog-to-Digital (A/D) Conversion

• Analog input voltage vx is converted to the nearest n-bit number.

• For a four bit converter, 0 -> vx input yields a 0000 -> 1111 digital
output.
• Output is approximation of input due to the limited resolution of the n-
bit output. Error is expressed as:
1 2 n
V  v x  (b1 2  b2 2  ... bn 2 )VFS
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 Notational Conventions

• Total signal = DC bias + time varying signal

vT  VDC  Vsig
iT  I DC  i sig

• Resistance and conductance - R and G with same

subscripts will denote reciprocal quantities. Most
 form will be used within expressions.
convenient
1 1
Gx  and g 
Rx r
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 What are Reasonable Numbers?
• If the power suppy is +/-10 V, a calculated DC bias value of 15 V (not
within the range of the power supply voltages) is unreasonable.
• Generally, our bias current levels will be between 1 uA and a few
hundred milliamps.
• A calculated bias current of 3.2 amps is probably unreasonable and
should be reexamined (except in power devices).
• Peak-to-peak ac voltages should be within the power supply voltage
range.
• A calculated component value that is unrealistic should be rechecked.
For example, a resistance equal to 0.013 ohms.
• Given the inherent variations in most electronic components, three
significant digits are adequate for representation of results.

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Circuit Theory Review: Voltage Division

v1  i sR1 and v 2  i s R2

Applying KVL to the loop,

v s  v1  v 2  i s (R1  R2 )

vs
and is 
R1  R2
Combining these yields the basic voltage division formula:
R1 R2
v1  v s v2  vs
 R1  R2 R1  R2

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Circuit Theory Review: Voltage Division
(cont.)
Using the derived equations
with the indicated values,
8 k
v1  10 V  8.00 V
8 k  2 k
2 k
v 2  10 V  2.00 V
8 k  2 k

Design Note: Voltage division only applies when both

resistors are carrying the same current.

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Circuit Theory Review: Current Division
vs vs
i s  i1  i 2 where i1  i
and 2 
R1 R2
Combining and solving for vs,
1 RR
v s  i s   i s  1 2  i sR1 || R2
1 1 R1  R2

R1 R2
Combining these yields the basic current division formula:
R2 R1
i1  i s i2  i s
R1  R2 R1  R2

and - 17
 Circuit Theory Review: Current
Division (cont.)
Using the derived equations
with the indicated values,
3 k
i1  5 ma  3.00 mA
2 k  3 k
2 k
i 2  5 ma  2.00 mA
2 k  3 k

Design Note: Current division only applies when the same

voltage appears across both resistors.

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Circuit Theory Review: Thevenin and
Norton Equivalent Circuits

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 Circuit Theory Review: Find the
Thevenin Equivalent Voltage
Problem: Find the Thevenin
equivalent voltage at the output.
Solution:
• Known Information and Given
Data: Circuit topology and
values in figure.
• Unknowns: Thevenin equivalent
voltage vTH.
• Approach: Voltage source vTH
is defined as the output voltage
with no load.
• Assumptions: None.
• Analysis: Next slide…

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 Circuit Theory Review: Find the
Thevenin Equivalent Voltage
Applying KCL at the output node,
vo  vs vo
i1    G1 v o  v s   G S v o
R1 RS
Current i1 can be written as: i1  G1v o  v s 

Combining the previous equations

G1  1v s G1  1  G S v o

G1  1 R1RS   1RS

vo  vs   vs
G1  1  G S R1RS   1RS  R1

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 Circuit Theory Review: Find the
Thevenin Equivalent Voltage (cont.)
Using the given component values:

vo 
  1RS
vs 
50  11 k
vs  0.718vs
  1RS  R1 50  11 k  20 k
and

v TH  0.718v s

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 Circuit Theory Review: Find the
Thevenin Equivalent Resistance
Problem: Find the Thevenin
equivalent resistance.
Solution:
• Known Information and
Given Data: Circuit topology
and values in figure.
• Unknowns: Thevenin
equivalent voltage vTH. Test voltage vx has been added to the
• Approach: Voltage source previous circuit. Applying vx and
vTH is defined as the output solving for ix allows us to find the
voltage with no load. Thevenin resistance as vx/ix.
• Assumptions: None.
• Analysis: Next slide…

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 Circuit Theory Review: Find the
Thevenin Equivalent Resistance (cont.)
Applying KCL,
i x  i1  i1  G S v x
 G1v x  G1v x  G S v x
 G1   1  G S v x
vx 1 R1
Rth    RS
i x G1   1  G S  1

R1 20 k
Rth  RS  1 k  1 k 392   282 
 1 50  1

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 Frequency Spectrum of Electronic
Signals
• Nonrepetitive signals have continuous spectra
often occupying a broad range of frequencies
• Fourier theory tells us that repetitive signals are
composed of a set of sinusoidal signals with
distinct amplitude, frequency, and phase.
• The set of sinusoidal signals is known as a
Fourier series.
• The frequency spectrum of a signal is the
amplitude and phase components of the signal
versus frequency.

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 Frequencies of Some Common Signals

• Audible sounds 20 Hz - 20KHz

• Baseband TV 0 - 4.5MHz
• FM Radio 88 - 108MHz
• Television (Channels 2-6) 54 - 88MHz
• Television (Channels 7-13) 174 - 216MHz
• Maritime and Govt. Comm. 216 - 450MHz
• Cell phones 1710 - 2690MHz
• Satellite TV 3.7 - 4.2GHz

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 Fourier Series
• Any periodic signal contains spectral components only at discrete
frequencies related to the period of the original signal.
• A square wave is represented by the following Fourier series:
2VO  1 1 
v(t)  VDC  sin  0 t  sin 3 0 t  sin 5 0 t  ...
  3 5 



0=2/T (rad/s) is the fundamental radian frequency and f0=1/T (Hz) is

the fundamental frequency of the signal. 2f0, 3f0, 4f0 and called the
second, third, and fourth harmonic frequencies.
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 Amplifier Basics

• Analog signals are typically manipulated with

linear amplifiers.
• Although signals may be comprised of several
different components, linearity permits us to use
the superposition principle.
• Superposition allows us to calculate the effect of
each of the different components of a signal
individually and then add the individual
contributions to the output.

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 Amplifier Input/Output Response

vs = sin2000t V

Av = -5

Note: negative
gain is equivalent
to 180 degress of
phase shift.

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 Introduction to Electronics
Fall 2010

Electric Circuits
Analysis of linear circuits
• Thevenin ‘s Theorem
• Norton ‘s Theorem
• Superposition
• Equivalent circuits
• Controlled sources

Introduction to Electronics
•Operational amplifier non-idealities
•Diodes, BJT & MOS transistors as nonlinear elements
•The CMOS and BJT as Amplifiers and as Digital Inverters
•Generating device linear model for using in analysis and simulations
•Bandwidth estimation, frequency response
•Multi-stage amplifier circuits
•Digital circuits basics
•Analog to digital conversion basics - 30