Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)
A Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) is a 4-layer diode that is controlled by a gate signal. It ca be turned on by a pulse on the gate. More ...
Electronics Lab
Even though an electronic circuit may appear to work on paper, and maybe even in a circuit simulator, it's always important to test it in the real world. Prototype circuits can be built using a solderless breadboard. More ...
Lead-Acid Battery Chemistry
As a lead-acid battery is repeatedly recharged, sulfation will build-up on the plates and the battery will begin to loose its capacity to restore to a full charge and eventually must be replaced. 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 ...
Electrical Transformers
A transformer is an electrical device that uses the principle of magnetic induction to step voltage up or step down. Inversely it increases or decreases the current available at the different voltages. 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 ...
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 ...
Phase shift in AC Circuits
In an AC circuit with a capacitor or an inductor there is a phase shift between voltage and current. In this article you learn how to calculate the amount of that phase shift. More ...
Light Emitting Diode (LED)
An LED is a diode that converts electrical current directly into light and therefore it is more efficient than other sources of light which convert some energy into heat. When electrons recombine with holes in the depletion region they release energy in the form of light photons. 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 ...
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 ...
Common Emitter Configuration Transistor Biasing
To design a common emitter amplifier circuit, use a voltage divider with resistors selected to set the base voltage at the center of the transistor's linear region. Then, through a DC blocking capacitor, apply a waveform to the transistor's base. More ...
Integrated Circuit Manufacturing CMOS Technology
The MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) is the dominant device used in modern integrated circuits because it can be scaled to smaller dimensions than other types of devices. 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 ...
