The Diode
A diode is a semiconductor component designed to allow current to pass in one direction. To form a diode, a P type semiconductor is joined with an N type of the same semiconductor element, forming a P-N junction. Diodes are used for turning AC to DC, isolating signals, and mixing signals. 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 ...
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 ...
How to Read a Capacitor's Values
Due to the limited space available for printing, physically small capacitors are especially difficult to read. Therefore capacitors use a wide variety of codes to describe their characteristics. More ...
Integrated Circuit Photoresist Process
The semiconductor photolithography process involves coating the substrate with A light-sensitive chemical layer called photoresist. Light is projected through a mask onto the substrate causings photoresists to react chemically. More ...
Integrated Circuit Manufacturing E-Beam Lithography
Optical lithography high resolution, at low cost, but it has limitations. Electron-beam lithography uses an electron gun to generate a beam of electrons to produce submicrometer resist geometries without a mask. More ...
Electric Fields and Static Electricity
Static electricity is a phenomenon caused by a buildup of unbalanced electric charge that is not moving. We are all familiar with the static electric charge caused by dragging our feet across a carpet and then the sudden static discharge caused by grabbing a door knob. More ...
Semiconductor Manufacturing Process Sequence
Semiconductor manufacturing consists of a series of sequential process steps in which layers of materials are deposited on substrates, doped with impurities, and patterned using photolithography to produce ICs. More ...
Superposition Theorem
The resistive networks that satisfy Ohm's law allow a number of simplifying approaches to be taken in their analysis. Circuit analysis by superposition replaces all voltage sources but one with short circuits, then using the summation rules of series-parallel combinations of resistors determine the voltage across and current in each branch due to the remaining voltage source, and then repeating this process for all voltage sources and superposing the results. More ...
Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET)
A Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET) consists of a channel and a pn junction. The gate controls the conductance of the channel. A JFET is a voltage controlled device, therefore no current flows into the gate. More ...
Integrated Circuit Fabrication Masks
A mask in IC Fabrication is a master template for an IC design. A light-sensitive material, is applied on the wafer. The mask as well as a wafer are inserted in a lithography scanner. More ...
Basic Laws and Analytical Methods for Circuit Analysis
Circuit analysis is like the psychoanalysis of the electrical engineering world because itâ?Ts all about studying the behavior of circuits. With any circuit, you have an input signal, such as a battery source or an audio signal. What you want to figure out is the circuitâ?Ts output â?" how the circuit responds to a given input. 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 ...
Inductors in Series and Parallel
Inductances in series add like resistances in series. The total value is the sum of the individual values. Inductances in parallel values add up like the values of resistors in parallel. The reciprocal of total inductance is the sum of reciprocals of all the individual inductances. More ...
