Inductors in DC Circuits
When voltage first applied current through an inductive circuit is low because a magnetic field starts building in the coil, and this magnetic field creates a back electromotive force (EMF) that oppose the current in the inductor. More ...
Alternating Current
With DC (Direct Current), electric current flows in only one direction. With AC (Alternating Current), current direction reverses periodically. More ...
Lithium Ion Battery Chemistry
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are one of the most common portable power sources used today. Impurities in the materials used to construct a lithium battery can cause it to overheat. More ...
Modern Semiconductor Manufacturing
The modern semiconductor manufacturing process sequence is the most sophisticated and unforgiving volume production technology that has ever been practiced successfully. It consists of a complex series of hundreds of unit process steps that must be performed very nearly flawlessly. More ...
Direct Current
The nucleus of an atom is relatively heavy, so electricity primarily involves the flow of electrons. The nucleus of an atom generally doesn't move much. More ...
Conductors and Insulators
Materials can be classified depending on whether they allow charge to move. If charge can easily move through a material, these materials are called conductors. If charge cannot move through a material, then this material is called an insulator. More ...
Zener Diode
A zener diode is similar to a standard diode allowing current flow in the forward direction except the semiconductor is more heavily doped and this allows it to operate in the reverse-bias break down mode. More ...
Magnetism
Electric currents and magnetic fields are closely related. Whenever an electric current flows a magnetic field accompanies the current. When a wire is coiled up, the resulting magnetic flux becomes more concentrated. More ...
EMI, RFI, EMC, EMS, What's the Difference?
EMI, RFI, EMC, and EMS all refer to different aspects of radio frequency interference which may cause elecronic devices to malfunction. Correcting these problems can be an art and a science. More ...
RMS Used in AC Circuit Analysis
Because the value of an AC signal is continuously varying, it would be difficult to use formulas such as ohms law. In the specific case of a sine wave, the Root Mean Square (RMS) of the wave is used instead. More ...
Use a Resistor to Measure Inductance
Inductance is usually measured by using an LCM multimeter. It can also be mesured using a resistor. With the resistor method, you adjust the frequency of a sine wave until the AC voltage accross the resistor and inductor are equal. Then using a formula to calculate the inductance. More ...
Integrated Circuit Manufacturing BiCMOS Technology
BiCMOS is a technology that combines both CMOS and bipolar device structures in a single IC. The reason to combine these two different technologies is to create an IC chip that has the advantages of both CMOS and bipolar devices. More ...
Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Etching
photolithography is the process of transferring patterns to photoresist covering the surface of a semiconductor wafer. To produce circuit features, these resist patterns must be transferred into the underlying layers of the device. Pattern transfer is accomplished by an etching process that selectively removes unmasked portions of a layer. More ...
Batteries
Early in the history of electrical science, laboratory physicists found that when metals came into contact with certain chemical solutions, voltages appeared between the pieces of metal. These were the first electrochemical cells. More ...
