UNIT 3 ELECTRONICS

1. BASIC ELECTRICITY

Electricity, simply put, is the flow of electric current along a conductor. This
electric current takes the form of free electrons that transfer from one atom to the
next. Thus, the more free electrons a material has, the better it conducts. There
are three primary electrical parameters: the volt, the ampere and the ohm.

The Volt (V): The pressure that is put on free electrons that causes them to
flow is known as electromotive force (EMF). The volt is the unit of pressure, i.e.,
the volt is the amount of electromotive force required to push a current of one
ampere through a conductor with a resistance of one ohm.

The Ampere (A): The ampere defines the flow rate of electric current. For
instance, when one coulomb (or 6 x 10
18
electrons) flows past a given point on a
conductor in one second, it is defined as a current of one ampere.

The Ohm (): The ohm is the unit of resistance in a conductor. Three
things determine the amount of resistance in a conductor: its size, its material,
e.g., copper or aluminum, and its temperature. A conductors resistance
increases as its length increases or diameter decreases. The more conductive
the materials used, the lower the conductor resistance becomes. Conversely, a
rise in temperature will generally increase resistance in a conductor.

Ohms Law: Ohms Law defines the correlation between electric current (I),
voltage (V), and resistance (R) in a conductor.

Ohms Law can be expressed as:

V = I R

Where: V = volts, I = amps, R = ohms

Power (P): power is defined as the amount of work (energy) done by a
general force each second. Electric power is then calculated as:
P = VxI
Power is measured in Watts. 1 Watt = 1 Joule/second

Energy (E): energy produced or consumed by a circuit may then be
calculated as E = Pt. Energy, in the IS, is measured in Joules (J), but for electric
measurements a Joule is pretty small, so it is also used the Wh and kWh (note
that is multiplied and not divided!)






Questions:

Let's imagine that you have a wire, and you somehow observe that
2 coulombs passes through the wire in one second. What is the
value of the current?
You observe charge going through a wire for 4 seconds, and you
find that 20 coulombs passes. What is the current?
You have a car battery, and you leave on an interior light. The light
draws one ampere from the battery. How many coulombs will flow
through the light if you leave it on for three hours?
There is a circuit made with a battery and a 500 resistor. If the
electric current is 0,04 A, what is the voltage provided by the
battery?
If we have a 4,5 V battery and we measure a total current of 0,5
mA, what is the total resistance of the circuit?
Our 20 W desk light is on for 90 minutes. How much energy did it
consumed during this time? Calculate the answer in Joules and in
Wh.
A computer specifies that it must be connected to a 230 V source
and it consumes 1,5 A. Whats the power of the computer? How
much energy did it consumed during 4 hours of continuous work?





2. ELECTRONIC ELEMENTS

You will work with a number of basic electronic components when building
electronic circuits, including resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, and
integrated circuits.

a. RESISTORS

We need some way to control the flow of
current from a voltage source, like a battery, so
we do not melt wires and blow up batteries. If
you think of current, charge flow, in terms of
water flow, a good electrical conductor is like big
water pipe. Water mains and fire hoses have
their uses, but you do not want to take a drink
from one. Rather, we use small pipes, valves,
and other devices to limit water flow to practical
levels. Resistors do the same for current; they
resist the flow of charge; they are poor conductors.
The most common and inexpensive type is made from powdered
carbon and a glue-like binder. Such carbon composition resistors usually
have a brown cylindrical body with a wire lead on each end, and colored
bands that indicate the value of the resistor.
























There are other types of resistors:

The potentiometer is a variable resistor. When the knob of a
potentiometer is turned, a slider moves along the resistance
element. Potentiometers generally have three terminals, a
common slider terminal, and one that exhibits increasing
resistance and one that has decreasing resistance relative to
the slider as the shaft is turned in one direction. The
resistance between the two stationary contacts is, of course,
fixed, and is the value specified for the potentiometer.





The photoresistor or photocell is composed of a light
sensitive material. When the photocell is exposed to more
light, the resistance decreases. This type of resistor makes an
excellent light sensor.




















b. CAPACITORS

Capacitors are components that can store electrical pressure
(Voltage) for long periods of time. When a capacitor has a difference in
voltage (Electrical Pressure) between its two leads it is said to be charged.
A capacitor is charged by forcing a one way (DC) current to flow through it
for a short period of time. It can be discharged by letting an opposite
direction current flow out of the capacitor.

All capacitors contain at least two electrical conductors separated by
a dielectric (insulator); for example, one common construction consists of
metal foils separated by a thin layer of insulating film.

An ideal capacitor is characterized
by a single constant value,
capacitance. This is the ratio of the
electric charge on each conductor to the
potential difference between them. The
SI unit of capacitance is the farad, which
is equal to one coulomb per volt.

C = Q/V



c. DIODES

The key function of a diode is to control the direction of current-flow.
Current passing through a diode can only go in one direction, called the
forward direction. Current trying to flow the reverse direction is blocked.
Theyre like the one-way valve of electronics.
If the voltage across a diode is negative, no current can flow, and the
ideal diode looks like an open circuit. In such a situation, the diode is said
to be off or reverse biased.
As long as the voltage across the diode
isnt negative, itll turn on and conduct current.
Ideally, a diode would act like a short circuit (0V
across it) if it was conducting current. When a
diode is conducting current its forward biased
(on).
Every diode has two different terminals. The positive end of a diode is
called the anode, and the negative end is called the cathode. Current can
flow from the anode end to the cathode, but not the other direction.

Ideally, diodes will block any and all current flowing in the reverse
direction, or just act like a short circuit if current flow is forward.
Unfortunately, actual diode behavior isnt quite ideal.
Depending on the voltage applied across it, a diode will operate in
one of three regions:

Forward bias: When the
voltage across the diode is positive the diode is on and
current can run through. The voltage should be greater
than the forward voltage (V
F
) in order for the current to
be anything significant.
Reverse bias: This is the
off mode of the diode, where the voltage is less than V
F

but greater than -V
BR
. In this mode current flow is
(mostly) blocked, and the diode is off.
Breakdown: When the
voltage applied across the diode is very large and
negative, lots of current will be able to flow in the reverse
direction, from cathode to anode.
Light emitting diodes, commonly called LEDs, do
dozens of different jobs and are found in all kinds of devices.
Among other things, they form numbers on digital clocks,
transmit information from remote controls, light up watches and
tell you when your appliances are turned on. Collected together,
they can form images on a television screen or illuminate a
traffic light.
Basically, LEDs are just tiny light bulbs that fit easily into an electrical
circuit. But unlike ordinary incandescent bulbs, they don't have a filament
that will burn out, and they don't get especially hot. They are illuminated
solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material, and they
last just as long as a standard transistor. The lifespan of an LED surpasses
the short life of an incandescent bulb by thousands of hours.

Standard LEDs: 20 mA LEDs (ranging from approximately 40 mW to
90 mW) have a direct voltage around:
1.9 to 2.1 V for red, orange and yellow,
3.0 to 3.4 V for green and blue,
2.9 to 4.2 V for violet, pink, purple and white.

Diodes exercises:
1. Calculate the resistance of R
p
if the LED has a working voltage of
1,8 V and the electric current must be of 20 mA.






2. Indicate which bulbs are switch on and which ones are switch off.
Explain the reasons.


3. What LEDs are ON in the following circuits? Why?


4. We have a battery of 9 V and some red LEDs with a V
D
= 1,8 V.
How many LEDs can we connect in series before they stop
emitting light? What happens if we connect 6 LEDs in parallel?
Draw the circuits.









d. TRANSISTORS

If cells are the building blocks of life, transistors are the building blocks of
the digital revolution. Without transistors, the technological wonders you use
every day (cell phones, computers, cars) would be vastly different, if they existed
at all.
A transistor is a semiconductor device with three different terminals.
Transistors control the movement of electrons, and consequently, electricity.
They are the base element in all integrated circuits, they are used to amplify
electrical signals and to switch electronic circuits.
There are different types of transistors, depending on:
The building structure: they could be Bipolar Junction Transistors
(BJT) or Field Effect Transistors (FET). Within these two main
structures there are different technologies and families of
transistors.
The semiconductor material: silicon based, germanium,
compounds of gallium arsenide...
The maximum power rating.

BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTORS
We are going to study bipolar transistors, their three terminals are
called: base, collector and emitter. A bipolar transistor is a combination of
two junction diodes, and is formed of either a thin layer of p-type
semiconductor sandwiched between two n-type semiconductors (an NPN
transistor), or a thin layer of n-type semiconductor sandwiched between two
p-type semiconductors (a PNP transistor).