University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignDepartment of Physics Advanced Physics Laboratory Physics 404 Analog Electronics Lab

Introduction to the Electronic Laboratory

Page Contents 1. References2 2. Purpose.2 3. Laboratory Techniques.3 4. Laboratory Equipment..4 5. Additional Exercises on Oscilloscope...6 6. Electronics Workbench simulation software9 7. Circuit Review with EWB 9

Revised 1/2005. Copyright 2005 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. All rights reserved.

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Introduction to Electronic Laboratory : Laboratory Equipment, Laboratory Techiniques, Circuit Review and Electronics Workbench

1. References 1. Horowitz and Hill, The Art of Electronics, Chapter 1. 2. Users Guide: Electronics Workbench, Interactive Image Technologies. 3. Technical Reference: Electronics Workbench, Interactive Image Technologies.

2. Purpose The purpose of Physics 404 is to give you a working knowledge of modern electronics. The lab is a most important part of the course, not only because it takes 6 hours a week, but also because it is only in the lab that you can gain practical experience with the circuits discussed in the lectures. The lab should be fun and instructive. To stimulate your interest we try to provide you with advanced test equipment and with some of the latest semiconductor devices available. It is your responsibility, however, to take good care of the equipment and, most importantly, to organize your time in such a way as to make efficient use of your lab period. In addition to hands-on electronics, you will be using an electronic simulation software called Electronics Workbench (EWB in short). It is installed on all computers in the lab. It will be used as a design tool before you actually construct your circuit on the breadboard. Therefore you should try to familiarize EWB as soon as possible. This introduction will provide the essentials required to use EWB in this lab. The HELP section of EWB is accessible on line and EWB manuals are also available for lab use. The purpose of this lab is to (1) familiarize the students with basic laboratory equipment used in this laboratory; (2) discuss the general electronics laboratory techiniques; (3) introduce the basics of EWB circuit design software, and, (4) review Kirchoffs laws using EWB. No lab report is required for this introductory lab. You may need to begin using EWB in the circuit review section If you are not familiar with the IBM-compatible

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computers or Windows operating system, plan to spend more time to learn about it on your own.

3. Laboratory Techniques Electronic laboratory techniques involve both practical techniques and theoretical knowledge. You should understand theory before coming into the lab. Circuit construction is the practical side of the electronic design. You should be well-versed in both areas in order to be a successful circuit designer. The following rules are provided as guidelines. RULE 1. BE PREPARED. We try to avoid cook book instructions, and you therefore have to study the lab hand-outs carefully. Typically you find a circuit diagram with unspecified circuit parameters. You will therefore have to select resistance, capacitance values, voltages, etc. Frequently you will have to consult the specifications of diodes, transistors and integrated circuits. In choosing circuit parameters: RULE 2. MIND THE RATINGS. All components have specified maximum ratings (power, voltage, temperature, etc.). A quarter-Watt resistor for instance cannot dissipate 1 Watt too long. An electrolytic capacitor not only conducts and heats up if improperly biased, but may ultimately explode. All semiconductor devices have specified voltage, current and power ratings which must not be exceeded. Damaged components can cause a lot of trouble. Eliminate them if they cannot be fixed. Also equipment that needs repair should be labeled (symptoms, date, observer) and turned over to the instructor. This prevents the next user from wasting as much time as you did finding out the equipment wasnt working. RULE 3. KEEP A RECORD of your results as you go along. Sketch all circuits you are using in your notebook and tabulate or plot all readings required in a given experiment. Frequently you can save a lot of time by taking a picture of the trace on the oscilloscope, but do not forget to indicate what the signal represents and label the axes. Before you can start a new experiment you must have completed the previous ones. You will need two laboratory note books - one each for odd and even labs. While one lab note book is being graded, you may use the other one for the next experiment.

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RULE 4. CLEAN UP. Keep in mind that you are sharing your bench with two or three other students from other lab sections. After each lab period you therefore have to clean up your station. With few exceptions the circuits have to be disassembled each time. We will assign drawers in which you can store specified circuits for later use. RULE 5. ASK QUESTIONS. If you have any suggestions or complaints please let your instructor knows. Consult the equipment manual if you are not sure how to operate an equipment. Ask your instructor if you have any questions about equipment.

4. Laboratory Equipment Use this first lab period to get organized and to familiarize yourself with the lab facilities, the instruments and the test equipment available. Choose a bench for your use during the semester and write down your name and lab section on the sheet provided on the side of the table. Make sure you have all of the following equipment on your bench:

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)

Oscilloscope Wavetek Signal Generator Regulated Power Supplies 15V, 12V, 5V, 040V Handheld Digital Multimeter (DMM) Resistance Box Capacitance Box Bench Digital Multimeter (DMM) Laboratory computer system (PC & Monitor)

Obtain a breadboard for your circuit construction from a cabinet in the backroom. At the end of the class, you may store it in your assigned drawer to work on it at the next lab session. Check that all the equipment is functioning properly. Find the instruction manuals in the room and browse through them. Pay attention to the operating instructions and specifications of the equipment. Skim through the sections on how the equipment works to get a general idea of its operation. For your own future information, make some written records about the equipment as you go along. Note that manuals must not be removed from the lab. Some of the equipment, such as scope cameras, the Audio Power Meter, the Spectrum analyzers, the Capacitance meter and the Impedance Meter must be shared.

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Follow the brief instructions below to familiarize with the important equipment in the lab. 1) Oscilloscope: This is the instrument you will use more often than any other and it is very important that you learn to make proper use of it. Make sure you understand the function of the various controls. Try the various triggering modes using signals from the Wavetek function generator (or Wavetek in short), and try the horizontal input. What is the specified input impedance? How can you calibrate the vertical and horizontal scales? Never leave the scope on with the intensity turned up as the phosphor can be damaged. Since it is the most important instrument in the lab, additional exercises are provided at the next section to gain expertise on the use of the oscilloscope. 2) Wavetek : This is a very versatile signal generator. Check the output voltage for the various attenuator settings. The attenuation is given in deciBel (dB) units, i.e. in units of V 20 log o , where Vo and Va are the peak voltages of the unattenuated and attenuated Va signals respectively. How does it depend on the load impedance? Understand the function of the symmetry and the offset controls. Note that the output is floating, i.e. the output BNC and all the circuitry is insulated from the chassis, which is in turn connected to the common bench ground. To prevent overload use the Pomona fuse box in series with the output. 3) Power Supplies. Note ranges, current capabilities and regulation. 4) Handheld DMM: Make some checks of calibration against the bench DMM. Note the probe connections for voltage is different for current, resistance, frequency measurements. Observe how all other buttons work. A probe for temperature measurement is located in the parts box. Transistor hfe measurement port is also available. This DMM will be handy to troubleshoot or useful for quick measurements. Note that the probe tips are quite sharp; avoid getting poked. 5) Bench DMM: Look up the input impedance and the quoted accuracy on the various ranges. Using Wavetek and the oscilloscope, determine the accuracy in meter readings at various frequencies. Learn to use the panel menu to measure voltage, current, frequency and resistance.

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Again, if you find equipment that needs to be repaired, make a label describing the problem, put down the date and your name, and call the problem to the attention of the instructor.

5.

Additional Exercises on Oscilloscope

A. Modes of Triggering 1. Connect the signal output of the Wavetek through its fuse box to the Channel 1 input of the scope. Set the Wavetek for sinusoidal, 60 Hz and the scope sweep time for 5 ms/div. Trigger the scope on "AUTO". When you have matched the sensitivity Volts/div to the Wavetek amplitude, you should see a 60 Hz sine wave displayed. Note that if you set the scope input switch to "Ground", the signal is zero, but the trace continues. This does not short the input signal source. Switch to "NORMAL" "INTERNAL" triggering. Note how the starting point of the trace moves up and down as you rotate the Level Sensitivity knob. The trigger switch on the channel selector knob must also be on channel 1. With everything as in (2) above, connect the SYNC output of the Wavetek to Scope Channel 2, Now you can switch the channel selector knob to observe the sine wave (Ch 1), the square SYNC signal (Ch 2), both on ALTERNATE (as you can see by turning up the sweep speed), or the algebraic sum (ADD). Triggering on Chl, note that the 2 signals move relatively as you change the level knob. Triggering on Ch 2 (SYNC), the level knob makes only one discrete jump in the timing. Connect SYNC signal to External Trigger. Press Ext. trigger button. Now the sine wave on Ch 1 is displayed with a constant phase which could be compared with another signal on Ch 2 (for example input and output of an amplifier). Trigger on LINE. You can now see if your wavetek frequency is correct at 60 Hz. You can also compare visually by plugging an open wire (with the banana plug adapter) into Channel 2.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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B.

Properties of the Scope Input

1 'Triggering externally on SYNC as above at 60 Hz, observe the four nonsinusoidal signals. 2. Note two effects that change the square waves when you switch the input from DC to AC. Clearly, the AC input must be used with discretion - mainly when a large DC component must be removed. 3. Insert the variable resistance box in series with the input and find the input impedance of the scope. 4. With the series resistance equal to the input resistance, observe what happens to a 1 KHz square wave. Explain.

C. XY Display 1. Connect the sinusoidal wavetek output to both channels 1 and 2 inputs. Trigger on Ch 1 Internal. Compare the two signals. Turn the Horizontal Time/Div knob fully counterclockwise. Now Ch 1 x, and Ch 2 y. You can check by turning the position knob or gain knobs or inverting Ch 2. You can also introduce a phase shift, by inserting capacitors in series with one input. The horizontal and vertical gains are not necessarily the same. Measure them and retain this information for later use.

2.

3.

D. Delayed Sweep The scope has a feature called "delayed sweep" which allows you to expand a small portion of an otherwise slow waveform. Set the signal generator to a square wave output at about 1 kHz. Switch to intensified display. Lower the brightness, and, intensify just the rising edge of the generator signal by dialing the variable delay knob

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and watching the intensified portion move along. Switch to delayed sweep and expand the intensity portion to 50 nsec per division. You will need to make the display brighter again. Measure the time it takes for the waveform to reach 90% of its peak value.

1 msec / division

50 nsec / division

Fig. 1. Use of dalayed sweep to view details. E. Scope Probe For high impedances or high frequencies the combination of scope input resistance (1 M ), input capacitance (20 pF) and connecting cable capacitance (roughly 30 pF per foot) can have an unacceptably large affect on the circuit operation. The purpose of an oscilloscope probe is to reduce this loading on the circuit. The probes in the lab present an impedance of 10 M in parallel with 13.5 pF, at the cost of reducing the sensitivity by 10. The circuitry is described in appendix A of H&H and in the scope probe manual. First, attach the ground clip of the probe to scope chassis and touch the. probe tip to the 0.4 Volt calibrator input. Adjust the little set screw in the probe until the waveforms are perfect square waves. Explain what this procedure is accomplishing. Now use the probe to measure the output of a capacitive voltage divider as shown below. Measure the capacitances with the capacitance meter, wire up the divider, and measure the ratio of input to output with the probe. Operate at a frequency high enough that the input resistance of the probe has a negligible effect. Now try it without the probe.

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Probe 40 pF Scope Ground Clip

20 pF

Fig. 2. Use of scope probe.

6. Electronics Workbench (EWB) simulation software Electronics Workbench (EWB) is an electronic design software used as a tool to provide you with all the components and instruments necessary to create your simulated circuit. It also allows you to analyze your circuit using different simulated instruments. It is a fully integrated and interactive software so that you may change your circuits on the fly, allowing fast and repeated what-if-analysis. Historically, electronic circuits were designed by Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE) developed at the University of California (Berkeley) in 1972. SPICE converts the circuit into a batch-mode simulator by changing the circuit nodes into a netlist text file. EWB adds the simulation feature of SPICE with the user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI). The result is a complete, integrated design environment for electronic circuit designs, both analog and digital or mixed circuits. 7. Circuit Review with EWB

EWB is a powerful but easy to use software to design and simulate electronic circuits. We will explore by an example that will review Kirchoffs circuit laws etc. Push the on/off switch situated at the front of the computer if necessary. Type in your UIUC login name and your password. When Windows 98 desktop appears, double click the EWB short-cut icon. You should see the desktop view of the EWB workbench user interface similar to Fig 3.

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The user interface consists of menubar, circuit toolbar, parts bin toolbar and circuit window. Menubar consists of File, Edit, Circuit, Analysis, Window and Help menu. Click on each menu and familiarize with its various sub-menus. You will notice that some of the sub-menu will be dimmed. This is because there is no circuit diagram in the circuit window yet. At the far right, there are two symbols : Activate to Simulate and Pause Simulation. After you construct your circuit, Activate to Simulation will be used to turn on for simulation.

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Fig. 3. EWB User Interface on Desktop. You will notice that there are two rows of tool bar icons. The first row contains some of the useful sub-menu commands described as short-cut icons. By pointing the mouse at the icon, you will see the short description of the icon. You will find these short-cut icons as time-savers while working with your circuits.

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The second row of tool bar icons provides the workhorse items for constructing the circuits. Click on each item of this second row to familiarize yourself with the options. The far left-most icon is to create your favorite items. For example, the ground symbol may be quite useful to save as a favorite item as you may need it from time to time. In order to save it, click at the source icon (with the battery symbol). At the ground symbol, click the right mouse button and you will see a pulldown menu appear. Click at the Add to Favorite menu command. If you reopen the Favorite icon you will notice there is a ground symbol in it. You may remove it by clicking the right mouse button and selecting the Remove From Favorite from its pulldown menu. Component properties can be found at the right mouse-click of pulldown menu of each item. It allows you to change or label several desirable properties of the circuit elements from the default values. Do not change any items at this point. Click on cancel button to keep the default value. To use the item from the part boxes, you will need to click and drag the item onto the circuit window. The item will now be selected as red color (default color). Click the right mouse button to see more pulldown menu commands. Experiment with some of these commands to understand their uses. To learn more of the item from Help, press F1 after the item is selected. General index of Help is accessible if you press F1 at any time on the circuit window or from the Help menu command. A text window where you may insert some notes about your circuit is available as Description Window. It is accessible from window menu from the menubar. Since there are over 150 items in the toolbar, we will restrict ourselves at this time to explore sources, basic, indicators and instruments toolbar items. For our example circuit, we will simply use the ground, battery, connector, resistor, voltmeter and ammeter in reviewing the Kirchoffs voltage and curent laws. To build a circuit just drag an item from the toolbar onto the circuit window. Each component has at least one point available to connect with another component. To make multiple connections, use the connector (a black dot inside the basic toolbar icon). It has 4 connections available. Build a basic circuit as shown in Fig 4. It should be noted that the ground connection must be present in the circuit. Your goals are: (1) to find the voltages at each loop to verify the Kirchoffs voltage law; (2) to find the currents at each junction to verify Kirchoffs current law; (3) compute the values of current in each loop manually

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and verify them with your simulation results, and (4) to determine Thevenens and Nortons equivalent circuits between terminals H and E.

Fig. 4. Example Circuit for Kirchoffs Laws using EWB. As an example, there is only one voltmeter is shown in Fig 4 but you may add as many voltmeters as you want. To find the current inside the loops, you may want to add ammeters in each loop. To do this, just disconnect by dragging the connection away from the previously connected location. Then connect the desired ammmeter and complete the loop. Aftter you have completed your circuit, use the Acivate Simulation switch to start the simulation. Note down the values you observed. You may print the circuit and its results for your record. Hint on computation: write down 3 Kirchoffs voltage loop equations for all 3 loops with 3 unknown currents and solve the equations to find these unknown currents. The voltages across components are then computed by using Ohms law.